13
13
consolidate our political institutions in the period
up to 1997 and beyond. I should like to say a word
on that.
"
The Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in
1984. Its key point can be summed up in the much
quoted phrase "one country two systems" In other
words the fact that Hong Kong and China have such
different economic and social systems and different
stages of development make it essential to insulate
one from the other for a period of at least fifty
years beyond 1997, despite the change of sovereignty.
A vital point in making the agreement work will
be maintaining the continuity of an administration
which is separate from the central government in
Peking. The government of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region, and its civil service, will be
made up from men and women from Hong Kong. They are
all there today. And, like the institutions they run,
they are all familiar to your businessmen now trading
in Hong Kong. Look for the brightest of the large
number of young Hong Kong Chinese now in their 40s if
you want to see who will be running Hong Kong after
1997. There is no question of a group of British
officials handing the administration over to another
group from Peking at midnight on 30 June 1997. Hong
Kong is to be run by the people of Hong Kong.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.