HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE
COUNCIL
5 July 1989
香港立法局—————————————一九八九年七月五日
33
Or Britain can choose the honourable way out, face the most immediate problem of confidence in Hong Kong squarely, and prove her mettle as the responsible sovereign and world power who is prepared to rescue Hong Kong from the pit of its own despair. History until now may offer itself as an attractive excuse for the British Government to wash her hands off Hong Kong, but the irresponsibility of that action will go down in history as a great disservice not only to the people of Hong Kong but also to the people of Britain.
DR. IP: Sir, as Legislative Council Members in Hong Kong, we do not have the opportunity to voice our feelings on behalf of the people of Hong Kong in the United Kingdom Parliament which, ironically speaking, determines our fate. This I would like to do so much that, Sir, I hope you will excuse me if I were to direct the rest of my speech to the United Kingdom Government as if I were at Westminster. Any reference I will make to "you" is not, Sir, directed to you personally, but to them.
Hong Kong is an island ceded to the British Government. Here we were born and live under British rule on British land. You have, by a stroke of the pen in 1984, given our land away. It is therefore your responsibility and our right to ask that you should give us back a place of abode so that we can continue to live under British rule on British land if we so wish.
You have, by the Joint Declaration to which we were not a party, destined all of us to live in Hong Kong under communist rule on communist land after 1997. Because of our love of Hong Kong, the only place we know of as home, some had believed, and more wanted to believe, that the Joint Declaration may work. And for a while some were convinced, but most wanted more assurances before they would accept this as an alternative. But after the June massacre in China, even those who were convinced have clearly changed their minds. And I truly believe that I represent most of all those who live here to firmly request and demand you now to give us back that right to continue to live under British rule on a British land. And if Hong Kong is no longer to exist under British rule after 1997, you have to grant us the right to full British citizenship so that we can, if we so wish, live in the United Kingdom, our Motherland. If you still have any confidence in the Joint Declaration, you ought to have no fear that we will take up this right. In fact, your resistance to granting us full citizenship and the right of abode in the United Kingdom reflects your doubt about the Joint Declaration. Yet the more you lack confidence in it, the stronger is the reason why you should grant us full citizenship to protect us from communist rule. Your granting us full citizenship will in essence not only give us the right to live in the United Kingdom but will open up our access to the whole of the Common
I
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.