01-DEC-1992 12:14
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FCO NEWS DEPT
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071 270 3734
pa. Presentan
'R' Opposition (210
310 La
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iss Sakse
Miss
Ladow file Kees
EXTRACT FROM INTERVIEW WITH MR PADDY' ASHDOWN, THE WORLD AT ONE,
NDAY 30 NOVEMBER 1992
Q.
How tough can Chris Patten afford to be in this situation?
HUB 01217 нив
Coust
Door
A.
Q.
A.
I think this is a moment for holding our nerve. What the Chinese are doing is what everybody predicted they would do if they disapproved of what Chris Patten quite rightly has been trying to do. Chris Patten himself has stayed rigidly and scrupulously within the terms both of the Joint Declaration and of the Chinese
drafted Basic Law. The legalities of the situation, therefore, rest on his side, not the Chinese, and I think we should always
remember that, at the end of the day, the Chinese have a very
powerful national interest in taking Hong Kong over as a going institution and in that sense whatever they may complain about
and bluster about now, the fact of the matter is that it is not
in their interest to undermine the economic stability of Hong
Kong in the long-term.
On the other hand, the Chinese must know that there are business
people in Hong Kong who are concerned about the economy of the colony running up to '97 who may well be in a position to put enormous pressure on Chris Patten if they are getting worried about the situation and, presumably, it is in that quarter that the Chinese leadership is hoping for some help.
Yes, I think that's true, and that's why it's important for us to
hold our ground and keep our nerve on this. The fact of the
matter is that it's always been the case that the Chinese cast a
long shadow ahead of them and it's always been the nature of
Chinese people to bow to the incoming Administration some time before it happens and so it was entirely predictable, even if one couldn't have predicted this precise action, the general policy of the Chinese would be to try to exercise unofficial influence
over Hong Kong before they arrived there by one means or another and so indeed undermining the British Administration. This is
not something, therefore, which in substance is unexpected but we have to keep at the back of our mind that of course there will be
considerable short-term points of pressure put upon Chris Patten to water down his plans. I hope he doesn't do that because I think that you will have just as big a destruction of confidence in Hong Kong if the Hong Kong people feel that they're not going to have a democratic system after 1997.
Peter Lucketts
HKD
TOTAL
D 01
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