TNAG-2715-FCO40-3921-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1993 — Page 77

IN ANOTHER COLLEAGUE. THE LADY THERE IN THE STRIPED SHIRT.

QUESTION:

MR HOWELL, AS YOU - IN PRELIMINARY CONCLUDING REMARKS AFTER THE INFORMAL SESSION IN THE MORNING YOU SAY THAT YOUR REPORT, THE PREVIOUS REPORT IN 1989, IS WHY MR PATTEN SHOULD PUT FORWARD HIS DEMOCRATIC PROPOSALS. BUT HE IS CONDEMNED AS A MAN OF GUILT(?) BY THE CHINESE SIDE. SO YOU SAY THAT HE IS DOING YOUR JOB, SO

MR HOWELL:

NO, THAT IS NOT RIGHT.

QUESTION (CONTINUED)

CAN YOU TELL THAT AFTERWARDS, AFTER THESE INFORMAL MEETINGS, WHAT MESSAGE OR IMPRESSION YOU WOULD LIKE TO BRING BACK TO YOUR GOVERNMENT AND TO TELL THEM, YOU WANT THEM TO SPEED UP DEMOCRACY, TO STAND UP FOR MR FATTEN'S PROPOSALS, OR YOU WILL ASK THEM TO REACH AN AGREEMENT, AND REACH AN AGREEMENT FOR CONVERGENCE FOR THE HONG KONG PEOPLE?

MR HOWELL:

Ι

WELL, I DID NOT QUITE SAY WHAT YOU SAID I SAID THIS MORNING. WAS ASKED WHAT INFLUENCE OR IMPACT THE PREVIOUS SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT HAD HAD AND I SAID IT HAD CERTAINLY SET IN MOTION A DEBATE AND AWARENESS AT WESTMINSTER ABOUT MATTERS IN HONG KONG AND SOME OF THE OUTCOMES MIGHT NOT BE A MILLION MILES AWAY FROM THE POLICIES BEING PRESENTED TODAY BY GOVERNOR PATTEN. THAT IS WHAT I SAID AND THAT IS WHAT I MEANT.

AS TO THE OTHER QUESTION, YOU ARE REALLY ASKING ME AGAIN ABOUT CONCLUSIONS, WHICH WE HAVE NOT REACHED AND ARE NOT IN A POSITION TO SHARE WITH YOU NOW. THESE ARE CONCLUSIONS WHICH WILL RESULT FROM OUR OWN DELIBERATIONS AND OUR OWN REPORT WHICH WILL BE VERY PROPERLY PRESENTED TO PARLIAMENT. I DID SAY AT THE BEGINNING, AND I WILL REPEAT, THAT IF YOU LOOK AT OUR PREVIOUS REPORT YOU WILL SEE THAT, AS YOU WOULD EXPECT WITH MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FROM WESTMINSTER FOR ALL PARTIES, THAT WE WANT TO SEE DEMOCRACY FLOURISH. WE REALISE THE DEBATE WITH BEIJING, IN A SENSE, IS NOT ABOUT THE PRINCIPLE OF DEMOCRACY BECAUSE IT IS THERE IN THE BASIC LAW AND IN THE JOINT DECLARATION, THE DEBATE IS ABOUT EXACTLY HOW YOU INTERPRET THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE OBJECTIVES AS THE MOVE TOWARDS A STRENGTHENED AND HEIGHTENED DEMOCRACY TAKES PLACE. THAT IS A VERY COMPLEX DEBATE AND IT IS ONE WE SHALL HAVE TO MAKE OUR JUDGMENTS ON, AND IT IS ONE OF COURSE WHICH IS VERY MUCH THE SUBJECT OF THE CURRENT DISPUTES AND DEBATES.

NOW, LET ME BRING IN MR GAPES NEXT ON THIS AND OTHER ISSUES.

MR GAPES:

CAN I, AS A LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE GOVERNOR, IN ANSWER TO THE LAST QUESTION. AS YOU WOULD EXPECT, AS A LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, MR PATTEN IS NOT OF MY PARTY BUT I WANT TO SAY, I HAVE BEEN STRUCK BY HOW HE SEEMS TO HAVE TAKEN A VIEW WHICH WAS ONE THAT SEEMS TO HAVE COME FROM THE DEMANDS OF THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG, FOR GREATER DEMOCRACY.

7