FOREIGN SECRETARY
SPEECH
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LONDON
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16 SEPTEMBER 1991
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QUESTION:
After 1997 do you see the British Government's role to be Hong
Kong's guardian monitoring the Joint Declaration as being kept to
the letter and bringing it up at the United Nations if it .?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
We shall not have sovereignty after 30 June 1997 so the role will
change but the Chinese commitment remains of course and of course
we shall continue to take, as the Prime Minister underlined when
he was in Hong Kong, we shall continue to take a very strong and
close interest in monitoring and watching what happens.
So we
will not lose that interest when midnight strikes on 30 June.
The interest of China of course is overwhelmingly to preserve the
success of Hong Kong and Premier Li Peng said to us a few weeks
ago that he entirely accepted that this depended on Hong Kong
remaining a capitalist economy. Now that is the analysis of Li
Peng and his willingness to state that is I think a good sign, it
means a realistic assessment by the Chinese leadership of the
means in which Hong Kong has achieved success and therefore the
means by which that success can be preserved. So self-interest, a
Chinese realistic assessment of their own interests, points them
as well as international opinion and British opinion, points them
towards continued implementation of the Joint Declaration after
1997.
QUESTION:
property rights
?
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