TNAG-2217-FCO40-3184-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1991 — Page 99

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procure concessions from the government have raised the problem of political overload on the government to a palpable level.15

The 1997 issue has drastically altered the socio-political

context wherein the government functions, rendered the existing

method of governance obsolete, created serious problems of

adaptation for the government, and made it difficult for it alone

to exercise effective rule. To exacerbate the predicament of the

government, the economic prospect of Hong Kong has become

clouded, as the 1997 malaise overlaps with a looming worldwide

economic recession and an increase in protectionist sentiments in

Hong Kong's major overseas markets.

All these changes have impacted upon the crucial conditions

that sustained effective colonial governance in the past, though

they suffer from varying degrees of erosion. To appraise the new

political environment that has engulfed the Hong Kong government,

a scrutiny of the extent to which the conditions discussed in the

previous section have been eroded would be necessary.

(1) Even though the option of independence is foreclosed by

the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which stipulates the

reversion of sovereignty to China in 1997, that the colonial

government has only a short life expectation is an inordinately

important political fact in itself. Whereas in the past the

government could exploit its indispensability and

irreplaceability in the mind of the people to deter political

challenge from the latter, its scheduled departure in the near

15

See Lau, 'Social Change'; and Scott, Political Change.