TNAG-2715-FCO40-3921-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1993 — Page 81

MR HOWELL:

WELL, THEY WEREN'T PUT AS YOU KNOW I THINK YOU HAVE GOT THAT SLIGHTLY WRONG THEY WEREN'T PUT AS WISHES, IT WAS JUST A REGISTERED VIEW, WHICH FRANKLY WAS NOT UN-SURPRISING, THAT THERE 18 THE TAIWAN ISSUE IN THE MIND OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT AND THEY NOTED THAT WE WERE GOING AND DID NOT LIKE THE IDEA. WIIDN IN FACT, WE EXPLAINED THAT OUR VISIT IS TO LOOK AT THE LONG TERM SINO-BRITISH RELATIONSHIP - POTENTIALLY GOOD, AS I SAID EARLIER AND THAT THEREFORE WE WANT TO LOOK AT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE WHOLE CHINESE ECONOMIC REGION AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE VAST FLOWS OF CAPITAL COMING OUT OF TAIWAN NOT ONLY THROUGH HONG KONG BUT INTO THE CHINESE MAINLAND, AND THE GROWING DEGREE OF TAIWANESE INVESTMENT, I THINK IT WAS RECOGNISED THAT THIS WAS A PROPER PART OF OUR STUDY. SO I DON'T THINK THERE WAS ANY QUESTION OF PURSUING INSENSITIVELY A COURSE OF ACTION WHICH WOULD IN ANY WAY EXACERBATE RELATIONS. ON THE CONTRARY, THE INVITATION BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT TO INVITATION IS NOT QUITE THE RIGHT WORD BECAUSE THE SELECT COMMITTEE CHOOSES WHERE IT IS GOING TO GO -- WE SOUGHT TO TELL THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT WE WISHED TO COME AND THAT PRODUCED A RESPONSE RATHER THAN AN INVITATION OF AN EXTREMELY POSITIVE AND WARM KIND AND IT WAS NO LESS WARM AFTER THIS EXCHANGE OF VIEWS ON TAIWAN THAN IT WAS BEFORE.

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DAVID, DO YOU WANT TO BAY A WORD?

MR HARRIS:

YES, I JUST WANTED TO SAY A WORD THAT I THINK THE LAST TIME I WAS IN HONG KONG BEFORE THIS VISIT AND I THINK THE VERY LAST TIME I WAS IN THIS VERY ROOM, WAS WHEN I WAS PARLIAMENTARY PRIVATE SECRETARY TO GEOFFREY HOWE DURING HIS VISIT, HIS LAST VISIT TO HONG KONG WHICH OF COURSE WAS RIGHT AFTER TIANANMEN SQUARE. FIRST OF ALL, I WOULD LIKE TO, COMPARING THIS SET OF EVENTS NOW WITH THOSE, I THINK THE FIRST THING THAT IS OBVIOUS TO ME IS OBVIOUSLY THINGS ARE - AND THIS IS ONLY TO BE EXPECTED BUT VERY MUCH WELCOME - THINGS ARE MUCH CALMER NOW, MUCH MORE POSITIVE. BUT I FORMED THE OPINION THEN DURING THAT VISIT WHEN I SAW SOME OF THE DEMONSTRATIONS THAT TOOK PLACE DURING THAT VISIT, THAT WHAT WAS HAPPENING HERE AS FAR AS THE PROGRESS TOWARDS DEMOCRACY WAS CONCERNED, WAS ACTUALLY UNSTOPPABLE AND THAT IT SHOULD BE POSITIVELY ENCOURAGED IN A SENSIBLE WAY. NOW WE OF COURSE HAVE ALL BEEN UP AGAINST THAT DILEMMA THAT ANYTHING THAT IS DONE MIGHT WELL OFFEND CHINA, BUT I ONLY MENTION THAT BECAUSE 1, CONSERVATIVE MEMBER, STRONGLY SUPPORT EVERY WORD THAT WAS SAID AS A BY MY LABOUR COLLEAGUE MIKE GAPES AND OTHERS, DENNIS CANAVAN, AND I THINK IN SAYING THAT, I DON'T WANT TO APPEAR PROVOCATIVE TO ANY SECTOR OF THE COMMUNITY HERE, LET ALONE IN IN ANY WAY CHINA, BUT I DO HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT EVENTS HAVE BEEN SET IN TRAIN HERE WHICH CANNOT BE REVERSED AND SHOULD NOT BE REVERSED, RATHER THEY SHOULD BE ENCOURAGED. AND THEREFORE I LOOK AT IT IN A VERY PRAGMATIC PRACTICAL WAY BUT I THINK IT WOULD BE TO THE ENORMOUS BENEFIT OF HONG KONG ITSELF, THIS PROGRESS, FALTERING, ALBEIT IMPERFECT, TOWARDS SOME FORM OF DEMOCRACY AND ALBEIT I BELIEVE IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, CHINA ITSELF WILL COME TO RECOGNISE THAT.

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