2072
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
5 July 1989
While the FAC report has made some useful recommendations in certain areas, it has been evasive in the responsibility which Britain, as the sovereign state of Hong Kong, should undertake in regard to the nationality issue. Moreover, it has not put forward any positive recommendations on how to solve the pressing confidence crisis in Hong Kong.
The report repeatedly refers to the British Government's "unique obligation" towards Hong Kong. However, it contains no evidence at all of any substantial commitment to fulfil this unique obligation.
You, Sir, and colleagues of this Council as well as people from various sectors in Hong Kong have made a unanimous and clear-cut request to the British Government that at this critical hour of the Hong Kong people's confidence crisis over their future Britain should provide an insurance policy by restoring to all British subjects in Hong Kong their right of abode in the United Kingdom. The British Government has the moral obligation to provide Hong Kong residents with a home of last resort. Our voice is clear and unanimous. We are asking for something that the British Government, as our sovereign state, has the need, the responsibility and the authority to provide for us.
The FAC's understanding of this "unique obligation" borne by the British Government is based on the provisions in the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed by the two governments to the effect that after 1997, a Hong Kong special administrative region government will be established under the principle of "one country, two systems", and that the present capitalistic system in Hong Kong will remain unchanged for 50 years.
On the other hand, the formulation of the Basis Law and the democratization of our political system should ensure that the undertakings made in the Joint Declaration will be fulfilled after 1997. However, the FAC has failed to apprehend that the confidence of Hong Kong people in the implementation of the Joint Declaration has already been seriously shaken.
Of course, the Joint Declaration remains an important basis for the future development of Hong Kong. However, to fulfil the undertakings made in this agreement, we will require not only the efforts of the Chinese and British Governments, but also the confidence of the Hong Kong people which is of paramount importance to the effective implementation of the Joint Declaration.
History tells us that the British Government's "unique obligation" towards Hong Kong did not originate from the signing of the Joint Declaration but started over a century ago when Hong Kong came under British rule. As Hong Kong is a British dependent territory, its people are entitled to British citizenship by virtue of birth constitutionally; the British Government has a "unique obligation" to restore this birth-right.
Regrettably, the FAC report has neither attached importance to the confidence crisis in Hong Kong, nor acknowledged Britain's historical obligation. It has only made recommendations which suit Britain's own interests and enable her to shirk her
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