TNAG-2723-FCO40-3929-UK-opposition-parties-and-Hong-Kong-1993 — Page 8

107001 -1993

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u.1.5.

+ 852 537 1546

MR ASHDOWN:

ACTUALLY TAKE THE VIEW, I

THINK

I

PROBABLY BEST EXPRESSED' BY LYDIA DUNN THIS MORNING, THAT IT IS GOING ΤΟ BE VERY DIFFICULT IN PRACTICAL TERMS TO SEPARATE THOSE, AND FRANKLY I CAN'T SEE VERY MUCH ADVANTAGE TO DOING SO. DON'T CLOSE THE DOOR AGAINST IT, BUT VIEWED AT FROM THE MOMENT, I WOULD HAVE ARGUED THAT IT IS GOING TO BE A DIFFICULT AND I REALLY CAN'T SEE MUCH ADVANTAGE TO IT, SO ON BALANCE I THINK WE OUGHT TO KEEP THE TWO ARRANGMENTS SYNCHRONOUS.

QUESTION:

IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE WHAT POINTS OF VIEW WILL THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS BE PUTTING FORWARD?

MR ASHDOWN: CONSISTENT WITH THE POINTS OF VIEW WE HAVE ALWAYS PUT FORWARD. WE HAVE ALWAYS ARGUED EARLIER THAN MR. PATTEN'S ARRIVAL THAT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER FOR HONG KONG IF WE HAD HAD A FASTER PACE TOWARDS DEMOCRACY. I THINK HISTORY WILL SAY THAT IT WAS A GREAT TRAGEDY THAT HONG KONG HAD ALREADY NOT SIGNIFICANTLY EMBARKED ON THE ROUTE TOWARDS A DEMOCRATIC FUTURE, BY THE TIME THE SINO-BRITISH AGREEMENT CAME TO BE SIGNED, THEN ALL THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A BIT OF THE PAST RATHER THAN AN UNCERTAINTY FOR THE FUTURE. WE WILL SAY THAT. CONSISTENT WITH THE VIEW THAT I PUT FORWARD LAST YEAR, THAT THERE WERE STEPS THAT COULD BE TAKEN WITHIN THE LETTER OF THE BASIC LAW AND THE JOINT AGREEMENT, AND BY AND LARGE THE GOVERNOR HAS I THINK RATHER IMAGINATIVELY USED THE ROOM FOR MANOEVRE WHICH BOTH THOSE AGREEMENTS HAVE GIVEN HIM, AND THAT AT THIS POINT I DON'T BELIEVE IT BENEFITS HONG KONG OR ANYBODY ELSE FOR THE BEIJING GOVERNMENT, THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT, TO BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A DIVISION OF OPINION ON THIS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT YOU WOULD FIND US BEING A CLEAR PART OF WHAT I THINK WILL BE, TURN OUT TO BE, A CROSS PARTY CONCENSUS, SUPPORTING GENERALLY THE VIEW THAT HAS BEEN TAKEN.

QUESTION:

IN THIS TIME OF GREAT UNCERTAINTY FOR HONG KONG PEOPLE, IS IT NOW ONCE AGAIN TIME FOR THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO RECONSIDER THE PASSPORT ISSUE?

MR. ASHDOWN: IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY VIEW THAT THERE WAS NO CASE, MORAL OR PRACTICAL, FOR THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO DENY BDTC PASSPORT HOLDERS FULL RIGHTS OF ABODE IN BRITAIN. I BELIEVE THAT HISTORY MAY WELL SAY THAT THIS WAS THE SINGLE MOST FOOLISH ACT THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT EVER TOOK TO DENY THAT. I SUSPECT, AND INDEED THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S RATHER LIMITED SCHEME AT PRESENT, WHICH AS YOU KNOW HAS BEEN 2 OVERSUBSCRIBED, BUT AS I UNDERSTAND IT NOT A SINGLE PERSON HAS ACTUALLY TAKEN UP RESIDENCE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, SO PROVING WHAT WE SAID WOULD BE THE CASE, THAT PEOPLE WOULD BE HAPPY TO HAVE THAT RIGHT BUT WOULD NOT TAKE IT UP. I THINK THAT NOTHING WOULD HAVE DONE THE BRITISH ECONOMY MORE GOOD, AND MAYBE EVEN SAVED US FROM THE DEPTHS OF THE RECESSION, THAN TO HAVE THE INFLOW OF INVESTMENT THAT THAT WOULD IMMEDIATELY HAVE CAUSED INTO BRITAIN AND NOT INTO VANCOUVER AND ELSEWHERE, AND I REGARD THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S DECISION TO HAVE BEEN NARROW MINDED, SHORT SIGHTED AND FOOLISH, SO IT NATURALLY FOLLOWS THAT · IF WE WERE TO DO THAT NOW I WOULD SUPPORT IT, THOUGH I AM BOUND TO SAY THAT I DON'T WANT TO RAISE HOPES IN THAT DIRECTION. THE GOVERNMENT HAS CLEARLY SET IT'S MIND IMPLACABLY AGAINST IT.

QUESTION:

PUT THE BLAME ON THE DECLINE RELATIONS ON CHRIS PATTEN - · DO YOU AGREE?

OF SINO-BRITISH

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