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5. WEN WEI PO (26.10) SAID IN AN EDITORIAL THAT ATTEMPTS BY SOME TO INTERNATIONALISE THE HK QUESTION WERE AIMED AT RECOVERING POLITICAL GROUND LOST DURING THE SINO-BRITISH NEGOTIATIONS OVER THE HK QUESTION. THE PAPER SAID THAT THIS WAS AGAINST THE JOINT DECLARATION AND WOULD DO HK AND BRITAIN NO GOOD. IT WARNED THAT CHINA WOULD NEITHER FEAR NOR GIVE IN TO INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE. WRITING IN TA KUNG PO, TONG YUK-HON SAID THAT IN INTERNATIONAL- ISING THE HK QUESTION, BRITAIN'S INTENTION WAS TO HAND OVER THE TERRITORY, BUT NOT (NOT) ITS PEOPLE, TO CHINA IN 1997.
6.
AN FCO SPOKESMAN WAS QUOTED BY THE SCM POST AND THE HK STANDARD (27.10) AS SAYING: ''IF WE WANT TO PUT THE CASE OF HK ON AN INTERNATIONAL BASIS, THEN WE WOULD DO IT.''
7.
EVENTS RELATING TO THE RESUMPTION OF II REPATRIATION DREW EDITORIAL COMMENTS FROM A NUMBER OF PAPERS. WHILE BOTH WEN WEI PO AND TA KUNG PAO (25.10) SUGGESTED THAT PEOPLE SHOULD NOT GO INTO DETAIL ABOUT THE BACKGROUND LEADING TO THE RESUMPTION OF II REPATRIATION AS THE WHOLE ISSUE HAD NOW COME TO AN END, A NUMBER OF INDEPENDENT PAPERS WERE WORRIED ABOUT WHETHER THE HK GOVERNMENT HAD MADE ANY UNDER-THE-TABLE DEALS WITH THE CHINESE SIDE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE RESUMPTION OF II REPATRIATION. FOLLOWING THE PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL ADVISER WILLIAM EHRMAN'S LETTER TO THE NCNA HK BRANCH BY THE SCM POST (26.20), THE INDEPENDENT PAPERS SAID THAT THE SO-CALLED ''NEW COMMITMENTS'
'' BY THE HK GOVERNMENT WERE ONLY THE CHINESE SIDE'S INTERPRETATION OF THE CONTENTS OF THE LETTER. THEY SAID PEOPLE COULD NOW SET THEIR HEARTS AT EASE AS THE HK GOVERNMENT HAD NOT AGREED TO SUPPRESS HK PEOPLE'S FREEDOMS IN EXCHANGE FOR CHINA'S CO-OPERATION.
8.
THE POLITICAL ADVISER, WILLIAM EHRMAN, LEFT FOR PEKING FOR
A FIVE-DAY VISIT, THE MEDIA (29.10) REPORTED. SPEAKING TO NEWSMEN
AT THE AIRPORT, MR EHRMAN SAID THAT THE MAIN PURPOSE OF HIS VISIT WAS
TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CHINA'S EXTERNAL ECONOMIC AND TRADE LINKS AND THAT HE WOULD NOT HOLD DETAILED DISCUSSIONS WITH CHINESE OFFICIALS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION IN HK.
9.
BLCC MEMBER AND A CORE MEMBER OF THE BUSINESS GROUP, VINCENT LO, CALLED FOR THE DISSOLUTION OF THE ALL HK ALLIANCE IN SUPPORT FOR PATRIOTIC AND PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN CHINA, THE MEDIA (26.10) REPORTED. THE CALL IMMEDIATELY RAN INTO OPPOSITION FROM EDITORIAL COMMENTS OF A NUMBER OF INDEPENDENT PAPERS, WHICH SAID THAT IF THE GROUP WAS DISBANDED, IT WOULD GIVE PEOPLE THE IMPRESSION THAT HK WAS GIVING IN TO CHINESE PRESSURE AND THAT THIS WOULD
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