TNAG-2477-FCO40-3607-The-Hong-Kong-Association-1992 — Page 8

3

<<

We must be on our best behaviour tonight because we welcome as our guests a bevy of Foreign Office Mandarins the Permanent Secretary, Sir David Gillmore; his Deputy Under Secretary in charge of Asia,

Sir John Coles; Mr Andrew Burns, Mr Christopher Hum, Mr Hugh Davies and Mr Peter Ricketts. It has been said that the era of the sinologists is moving into a new phase, but we also welcome that arch sinologist Sir Percy Cradock, whose great intellect and experience will no doubt continue to influence how the Foreign Office thinks for many years to come.

We welcome the new British Ambassador to Brazil, Mr Peter Heap, who has missed the Rio Earth Summit, lucky fellow! He has done a magnificent job as Senior British Trade Commissioner in building up the future British mission in Hong Kong, which will become the future British Consulate General and which will be of such importance in the years ahead.

In my speech three years ago the Hong Kong Association hoped that a suitable site could be identified for the future Consul-General's office. This has been achieved and the construction of the building will soon be under way.

May we this year put in a plea for the status and title of the new Senior British Trade Commissioner, Mr Stephen Day, to be further upgraded to compete with the very strong presence of other competitive nations such as the USA and Japan, with their larger Consulates-General in Hong Kong.

We also welcome past and present Hong Kong friends from Parliament. David Howell has shown great interest in Hong Kong as Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and the groundwork that he laid enabled the last Government to introduce the most successful British Nationality scheme for Hong Kong. Sir Peter Blaker and Sir Paul Bryan are two most distinguished former chairmen of the Hong Kong Parliamentary Group.

We have as our guests tonight three former speakers at our Dragon Boat Dinner. Sir John Nott; Lord Young, who now chairs Cable & Wireless, the largest British investors in Hong Kong through the Hong Kong Telephone Company, and Sir O W Lee, the distinguished chairman of the Hang Seng Bank. I was reading QW's wise speech of three years ago and he predicted then that Hong Kong would again prosper and that relations with China would improve. In those bleak days he told us that while the emotions of the moment were understandable, indeed justified, they should not be allowed to cloud our assessment of Hong Kong's long-term future.

The private sector is also well represented here tonight with people who have a close involvement with Hong Kong. Two previous chairmen of the Association, Sir Michael Herries, the retired Chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and Sir John Swire, who was Chairman of the Association for 13 years and whose family has had major investments in Hong Kong for more than a century. Lord King and Sir Colin Marshall from British Airways, who are ensuring that Sir John Swire's Cathay Pacific are kept on their toes. We welcome Sir Andrew Hugh Smith, Chairman of the London Stock Exchange. More and more Hong Kong stocks are being quoted on the London Stock Exchange as the securities industry increasingly becomes a global business without geographical barriers. It is good to see Sir Nigel Broackes, Chairman of Trafalgar House, and we congratulate him on leading the successful Anglo-Japanese Consortium which will build the Tsing Ma Bridge.

The fresh impetus being given to economic reform in China is full of promise for Hong Kong. China is set to become one of the world's great manufacturing centres. But to do so, it must be able to rely on an established and internationally-recognised financial centre. That is what London provided for Britain's industrial revolution; and the role which New York played for Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago and the other great industrial centres of the United States. Hong Kong's expertise, sophistication and ability to operate globally should ensure that it plays the same role for China. More than ever China needs Hong Kong, a Hong Kong which can operate with the freedom that is essential to success as a financial centre. Already the world's tenth largest trading country, I would expect Hong Kong to move even further up the league table over the

Page