we should be guided by the wishes of Hong Kong's people.
The Hong Kong Government are also announcing today that they will introduce as soon as possible a Bill of
Rights which will form part of the existing law and be able to continue after the transfer of sovereignty.
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For our part, when discussions with the Chinese
resume, we shall want to take up with them two matters of
special concern Article 18 of the draft Basic Law which
could enable the central government in Peking to declare a state of emergency in Hong Kong after 1997 - and, even more important, the question of the stationing in Hong
Kong of Chinese military forces.
Events in China have overshadowed Hong Kong's most pressing problem: how to close with the 56,000 boat
people who have found shelter there and who continue to
arrive at a rate of over 1,000 a week. The Hong Kong Government and people have coped magnificently with an appalling problem. The conditions in the camps I visited
compare well with those elsewhere in the world. But Hong
Kong is being overwhelmed by the sheer weight of numbers. The vast majority of those reaching Hong Kong are not political refugees. They have no hope of being accepted
for resettlement anywhere else in the world. Hong Kong
cannot offer them a home or a livelihood.
At the recent conference in Geneva, resettlement
pledges were made for all those who do qualify as
refugees. The report of the Select Committee saw no alternative to the mandatory repatriation to Vietnam of
those who do not qualify as refugees under the internationally agreed criteria. I have discussed this
problem with the Vietnamese Foreign Minister both in
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