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4.
Prof.
Garnaut is an exception. Most of those I met
were extremely cynical about HK-China, along the lines of the
American pattern but perhaps even more so. Businessmen are already talking of pulling out (of both HK and China), looking
again at Europe, especially Eastern Europe and Taiwan.
5.
-
I was struck by how large Taiwan looms in the
Australian mind. Businessmen accept its economic reality and
are impatient with their government's Peking balancing act. I had questions on Taiwan at virtually every session.
6.
As
far
as Hong Kong is concerned, most views
expressed to me were somewhat superficial based usually on very biased media reporting (some of which I was exposed to
first hand). In spite of the fairly frequent visits to Hong
Kong of some of my interlocutors, I soon realised I could take nothing for granted. The majority of my audiences hadn't a
about the Joint Declaration, and "one country two
systems" became my constant refrain. I had to hammer away at
the twin themes we ourselves have been emphasising of
'continuity' and 'separateness' of our systems (I frequently brought this home, to obvious effect, by referring to the
possibility of Australian judges in the courts of the SAR).
clue
7.
That
Ms. Penny Wensley was very supportive and made a significant contribution to the Canberra leg of my programme.
started off with a round-table session with
representatives from various sections of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade: again very timely because officials
about to embark on a policy paper on Hong Kong for whoever
forms the next government.
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