57
Debate on the Address (Second Day)
THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK]
[LORDS]
Thirdly, we need to be even more discriminating in judging recipient countries of arms sales on their human rights records and on their political stability. In particular, we need to avoid the disastrous mistake made more than once by the United States administration in thinking, "My enemy's enemy is my friend." Sometimes, as regards human rights issues, the Churches have local information which is closer to what is happening on the ground than that which comes through official channels. Therefore, I hope that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will continue to recognise that there is a useful field of co-operation here. Kenya is a good example of a country in which the Churches could have been more active at an earlier stage in drawing attention to what was happening. Judging countries on their human rights records is immensely difficult. Surely, those who must make such judgments need all the help they can get.
Fourthly, the arms trade is an area in which the Government could be more interventionist in preparing the ground for eventual contraction. It is part of the argument contained in our report that arms sales are not like other sales and cannot be judged by purely commercial criteria. We do not allow commercial criteria to operate unchecked at the point of sale. Therefore, it is logical that in the conversion of some of the arms trade to less-threatening purposes there could likewise be government intervention in the form of help. Nobody should be forced to produce unnecessary arms which then have to be sold to inappropriate countries in order to keep workers in employment. But neither can we simply destroy such employment in an industry which is to a large extent dependent on government without effective govern- ment action to ease the process of change. I offer those four suggestions-there are more in the report—to those who will be preparing practical measures to implement the promises contained in the gracious Speech.
I wish to add a brief word on another topic mentioned in the gracious Speech. I do so with temerity after hearing the excellent maiden speech made by the noble Earl, Lord Cromer, on the subject of China and Hong Kong. I too wish to say a word about Hong Kong. I do so as the joint author of a report on the area prepared for the British Churches in 1989. We wrote about the huge loss of credibility which Britain had suffered in the eyes of the wide variety of Hong Kong citizens from all walks of life whom we met on our official visit there. Subsequent contacts suggest that, if anything, that loss of credibility has grown worse. The new Governor of Hong Kong, whose appointment I warmly welcome, will have a hard time trying to reverse the process.
It appears to me that if we look at the long-term prospects of the area it will be enormously important to us as well as to Hong Kong to retain the good will of its people. even at the cost of not persisting in the hopeless business of trying to meet China's more unreasonable demands. Hong Kong, with its new
34 LD62 14 Job
7
May '92
Debate on the Address (Second Day)
airport and its vital role in China's economy, has excellent prospects of survival, which is more than can be said of communism even in China.
The exclusion of Hong Kong citizens from British citizenship still rankles. I believe that previous debate about the issue was fatally confused by the false supposition that those who wish to retain British citizenship do so primarily because they want the right of abode in Britain. I do not believe that that is the case. I believe that what they want is a continuing link with Britain through that citizenship, even after 1997 and despite all the difficulties. I realise that politically it is now probably too late to do anything. The next sensitive moment will come when the Asylum Bill returns to Parliament. If the new Bill is seen as making it unlikely that refugees from Hong Kong will find acceptance here, supposing that the worst happens, it will do further damage to already damaged relationships.
Apart from being sensitive on such points. I believe 'that the single most important thing that the Government can do for Hong Kong during the next five years will be to strengthen its democratic structures. If we leave behind us a community which still looks and feels more like a colony than a democracy we shall have failed the people there. We shall have failed to live up to our own ideals of government and we shall have lost what can still be a valuable partner in whatever the future holds for South-East Asia. I hope that the new Governor will seize that point and I wish him well. I hope too that the Government will do all that they can to restore the confidence of the people of Hong Kong in British integrity.
5.6 p.m.
Lord Prentice: My Lords, it is almost 35 years since I made my maiden speech in another place. By a strange coincidence I was then, as today, the third maiden speaker to be called in the debate. However, that occasion was worse because the debate had been delayed for a long time as a result of an emergency debate instigated by Mr. Tony Benn.
Another difference is that today I have been greatly encouraged by the maiden speeches of my noble friends Lady Chalker and Lord Cromer. It is good to be able to congratulate them before making my own effort. I believe that every friend of the aid programme is greatly relieved by the fact that the departure of my noble friend Lady Chalker from another place has not meant her departure from the ODA. I speak as one of her predecessors—indeed, I believe that she has four predecessors in this House. She brings to the job a unique combination of compassion and brisk common sense. That has made her work in the department greatly respected in this country and throughout the world.
I wish to speak about the work of the ODA. In doing so I hope that I shall not trespass too much on the conventions of a maiden speech. I realise that there are noble Lords-I have previously engaged in public debate with one or two who are totally against the concept of development aid. However, most noble
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.