and it has been generally welcomed, both in Hong Kong itself and by many other countries with an interest in the future
prosperity of Hong Kong. There was rather more than just one or two extra runways at stake. The new airport was
essential to enable Hong Kong to maintain and develop its
position as one of the most important business and trading
centres in the world. Hong Kong, even more than most places, cannot afford to stand still.
Because the construction of the airport, and the
financial arrangements for it, will extend beyond 1997, when
sovereignty over Hong Kong returns to China, it made sense
to ensure that China would endorse these arrangements. It was a fact of economic life that a degree of Chinese support for the project was essential if the necessary private investment was to be forthcoming. The agreement now reached provides the Hong Kong Government, which will have full responsibility for carrying out the project, with the certainty it needs to proceed without further delay. The airport, like Hong Kong's new port and telecommunications facilities, will rank with the very best in the world. The agreement commits the Chinese Government to supporting the project; it also provides for consultation with China within
the terms of the 1984 Joint Declaration and without
conceding to China a power of veto; and it includes financial arrangements satisfactory to both China and Hong
Kong.
We are
We shall naturally be discussing other Hong Kong-related business in the course of this visit. keen, in particular, to accelerate the work of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, where legal and other arrangments for a smooth transition in 1997 are discussed.
These sound technical but are vital to the success of the Joint Declaration and to Hong Kong's ability to flourish under the "one country two systems" concept as a highly
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