HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 1 March 1990
香港立法局 一九九○年三月一日
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channels of communication between Hong Kong and Beijing is essential to enhancing mutual-understanding and co-operation. With the expected disbanding of the Basic Law Drafting Committee and Consultative Committee, the need for such channels is crucial.
Not everyone of us in this community will be invited to Zhongnanhai. Nor can ordinary citizens afford to fly to Beijing at their own expenses whenever they want to reflect their views to the senior Chinese leaders, not to mention whether they will be received by the Chinese authorities. I believe that it is right for the British Government and this Administration to actively encourage and nurture the Sino-Hong Kong dialogue and relationship at all levels so as to ensure a smooth transition and handover.
In conclusion I would like to say that each of us could spend a little time analyzing the pros and cons of the two motions before the Council today. However, Sir, we are not here to indulge in word games. We are here to inform the community of how we see the way ahead of us. I would like to believe that it can be business as usual from now on but we will have problems ahead of us which the community must tackle. For these reasons, Sir, I have no mixed feelings in supporting the Senior Member's motion.
MR. PAUL CHENG: Yes, I am disappointed that the OMELCO consensus was not adopted; because it was achieved through much discussion and considerable compromise, and it represents what most people in Hong Kong would like to see adopted. Yet we should not spend time on a post mortem. We are not looking at a death. We are looking at a new chapter in Hong Kong's history. A new period in a game which is still in progress.
Things do change. Look at what is happening in Europe. Who would have thought that political development could occur so quickly? Nowadays with telecommunications and virtually instant media coverage, the world has never been more close-knit than it is today.
The whole world is in transition. More and more borders are falling. The European Community will come into being in 1992. The United States has signed a pact with Canada which may eventually include Mexico. I have just returned from attending a conference to assess the formation of an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operative Pact. There is a genuine and almost autonomous world economy of money, credit and investment organized by information which no longer knows national boundaries.
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