TNAG-1900-FCO40-2699-Future-of-Hong-Kong-briefing-1989 — Page 85

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part of the British Government to Hong Kong. All that Mrs. Thatcher has promised is a moral obligation and the

people of long Kong are not assured. Indeed, Mrs. Thatcher

has hardly uttered a word on Hong Kong since she signed the

Agreement. But if the British Government were to grant the right of abode to the 34 million people born in Hong Kong then the British Government would be fully committed to long Kong's cause, knowing full well that if things go well in

Hong Kong no one will leave here, but that if things should

go wrong, they may go and live in the United Kingdom, which

is the last thing the British Government wants to see. And

in this way, the British Government will find it absolutely

necessary to make sure that Hong Kong's success will

continue beyond 1997. And since China also wants our people

to stay, there will be a concerted effort between the

Chinese, British and Hong Kong Governments to cooperate

fully to make the Agreement work for the people of Hong

Kong.

With this new incentive on the part of the

British Government to make the Agreement work, there is then

every reason to believe that it will and the people of Hong

Kong will stay. I therefore urge the British Government to

act quickly on Hong Kong and not to drift on any more in

this lethargic river of transition, holding blithely onto

the proverbial ming vase for a float.

Mr. Chairman, perhaps before you put

questions to me, may I respectfully say that if you really

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