TNAG-2767-FCO40-3984-Hong-Kong-and-the-media-interviews--press-briefings-and-the--1993 — Page 33

05-APR-1935

امات

Gallagher

MR CHRIS PATTEN

INT

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DAVID FROST

5

J

0191 579836

F.03

LONDON

4 APRIL 1993

INTERVIEWER:

But the people who say they did not care about democracy before until they are about to get rid of it, there was that wonderful quote in the Liberation Daily: "It is as if a prostitute sold her body all her life and then decided to close her business, suddenly telling everybody she wants to be chaste and to protect her body as if it was jade. And this is what Mr Patten is doing,

protecting the body like jade."

MR PATTEN:

They have used all sorts of language, about 3 million words of

But the fact of the abuse, but so far alas no positive proposals. matter is that Hong Kong is in a different position to our other colonies. In other dependent territories we were preparing them

for independence and establishing democratic institutions,

independent courts and so on - Zimbabwe, Tanzania, India -

was the general pattern.

that

In Hong Kong we were preparing Hong Kong

for the resumption of Chinese sovereignty.

Far from China all

over the years having pressed us to go faster, China was pressing

us not to move in the direction of democracy.

INTERVIEWER:

Yes they had to be pressured but they are merely saying now that

is is convenient for us now?