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INTERVIEWER:
Mr.
Hurd, you said the final decision rests with LEGCO. Is there really any point to continue to back the governor when come 1997 the preliminary working group will disband its responsibilities at the start of the new legislature?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
You have to consider what is in the Chinese interest. Is it really in the Chinese interest that one of the first acts of the new SAR in 1997 should be to change arrangements and prevent the people of Hong Kong from continuing to have the representatives whom they elected?
No.
It would be a very bad start but these are things that the Chinese will work out themselves. It is not for me to tell them where their interests lie. What we want is to discuss with them the difficult issues which remain.
INTERVIEWER:
Is there a chance that talks will even resume again?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
If you had asked me that question in February or March this year we might well have said "No" but they did resume in April.
INTERVIEWER:
You say that Patten has the full support of other political parties but yet you have come out and made this statement in the House today. Is it because there are still some who are unconvinced and are you trying to do some damage control because on the eve of the next JLG talks you are afraid that may affect the JLG talks on technical issues such as. .airport?
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FOREIGN SECRETARY:
No. I made the statement today because it is right in British terms that the House of Commons should have a go at this and you have seen what the result was. Every single Member of Parliament, all parties, supported what the governor is trying to do and what I said.
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