TNAG-2450-FCO40-3567-Future-of-Hong-Kong-constitutional-development-1992 — Page 55

that

power and order are not identical with

straitjacket of doctrine, whether economic

or political; that it is possible

reconcile individual liberty

texture of

of society - with the indispensable

minimum of organising and authority".

a loose

114.

realities

I bring those opinions to the task

of governing Hong Kong, where the ink of

international agreements and the implacable

of history, geography and

economics shape and determine the way in

which such views can be applied. That is a

fact well understood by the people of Hong

Kong, better understood by them perhaps than

by many of those who would like you to be

the heroic pawns of their own doubtlessly

well-meaning preconceptions.

But No Stagnation

115.

So the

Hong Kong is

constrained.

pace of democratisation in

we all know - necessarily

But it is constrained, not

There are, in its tracks.

of

whatever may

stopped dead

course, those who say that

happen elsewhere, Hong Kong doesn't need any

further political development. They often

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