There is a popular view, I know, put out in the newspapers that the choice facing Hong Kong is between the Patten reforms and chaos. It is nothing of the kind. It is between the Patten reforms and the present level of democracy, which although not your style in Westminster, is pretty creditable as things have worked out. So that is the first point I would make.
-
Your second point is that we should offer Hong Kong some reality. Well we would offer them what you would call reality for two years with the certainty that at the end it would be torn down. I do not consider that a very good offer.
You go on to say that of course the international community will bail us out, that we would put China in the position of pulling down democracy in the face of the censure from the Americans and others, and that they will pause before that, and they might well stop. I don't believe that for a moment. think that is quite unreal.
I
M
-
We used to have, let me tell you, in the 1982 to 1984 days, the happy illusion that Our friends and international community
partners in the the Americans in particular pull us through, that they would pull our chestnuts out of the would
fire. Nothing of the kind. They were very interested. naturally wanted to know what we were doing, but they made it They
perfectly plain that they had an agenda of their own with China, and they were not going to use their capital in fighting our battles. And that is perfectly realistic; one should not have expected more.
And so in the end we were on our own. We shall be on our own in this case too, and although there may be tut-tutting and censuring, it will not deflect the Chinese. The Chinese believe, after all, that they have good grounds for what they are doing, that they reached an agreement with us, 1984 and 1990, and what they will propose to do is to go back and say 'We will honour that agreement, but we will reject these little bits that you have tried to add unilaterally'. So I do not think that the course you are advocating is a very realistic course, and I do not think it will produce good results for Hong Kong. if I may say so, a certain self-regarding quality about it too, It has,
20
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.