C
348
14 June 1989]
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE
[Continued
13. Following those meeting; members of the Attorney General's Chambers have been studying how Article 39 of the draft Basic Law, if eventually promulgated in its present form as part of theBasic Law, could best be implemented in Hong Kong. One option would be to retain and improve the present system based on a combination of legislative measures, common law and administrative rules. Another opotion, which is being given careful consideration, would be the enactment of a Human Rights Ordinance. The examination of this, and other possibilities, has only just begun.
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS
14. The United Kingdom's ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Descrimination applies to Hong Kong. Ratification of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Degrading or Inhuman Treatment will be extended to Hong Kong once local legislation is in place. The relevant Bill will be introduced into Hong Kong's Legislative Council this year.
Examination of witnesses
RT HON SIR GEOFFREY HOWE, QC, MP, Mr R MCLAREN and Mr A Paul
Chairman
936. The Committee opens this morning by wel- coming you, Sir Geoffrey very much indeed for agreeing to come back to this Committee on the second occasion during our Hong Kong inquiry. You are of course accompanied by Mr Robin McLaren and Mr Alan Paul, both of whom are welcome and known to this Committee. I should explain that this is the final evidence session of this inquiry, and in common with other sessions it is being broadcast live in Hong Kong. Sir Geoffrey, as I said, you have been to talk to us before about this subject; but, of course, between then and now and in the interval some revolting and evil occurrences have taken place which have horrified the world. I think we are all now trying to reassess our feelings in the light of the blood bath in Beijing and indeed for all we know blood baths elsewhere Thar as well, although new is not entirely clear. Could I begin by asking you what is your latest understand- ing of the position in the People's Republic of China, and in particular are you able to keep in close touch with our embassy in Beijing; and are you satisfied with the arrangements for the security of the diplomats who are there? Those are three questions. We would be grateful if you would approach them all.
(Sir Geoffrey Howe) Chairman, could I perhaps take the second one first, simply to say that we have been able to keep in close touch with our representatives in Shanghai as well as in Peking, and that has been the position virtually without exception since the start of the hideous events which have changed the scene so dramatically in China. Obviously, we are also concerned and have always been concerned with the security of our representatives there and their families. It was for that reason that together with the staff of many other western embassies the numbers there were
reduced at the height of the crisis and the depen- dants in particular were enabled to leave Peking. Nobody I think left Shanghai; the numbers there remained unchanged. Currently, we are consider- ing whether and if it may be possible to begin restoring some of the staff who have left; but we look at it obviously very closely. There was one moment when an area where diplomatic people and others were living appeared to be sealed off by troops and actually to be facing the danger of gunfire. That did not last very long following the representations that we made. But it showed that security considerations do have to be uppermost in our mind. May I then come back to the first and the most important question? The blood bath to which you referred in your opening remarks has been succeeded by a policy of repression of a sustained and profoundly dispiriting kind. The leadership in Peking seems to be dominated by a hard-line group everthing one says of course is founded on less than perfect knowledge-who appear to be consolidating their control; and in that depressing background of authoritarianism a semblance of normality is returning to some aspects of life in Peking and other cities, Because they are feeling in the grip of the martial law (f.. authorities, It is that same dominance which appears to have led to a tailing off of the demonstra- tions and arrests that were taking place in other cities in China itself. The wave of demonstrations has virtually disappeared. Of course, the clamp- down is reaching out now in to other parts of Chinese life. You will have seen reports of numerous arrests and denunciations of dissidents. Official propaganda is now fully under the control of the leadership and is dominating the media, so that the country is being flooded with a profoundly distorted version of events absolutely out of line with what actually happened. Again, the pressure
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.