04-APR-1995
04:31 579838
P.05
12:10
Gallagher
MR CHRIS PATTEN INT
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DAVID FROS.
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LONDON 4 APRIL 1993
6
MR PATTEN:
mething as clean cut as
I wish that the argument was about
democracy, it is not. The argumen is about whether we have fair
elections in 1995 and the argument may well in due course also be
about whether those who were elected in 1995 fairly travel through
the transition, travel through the resumption of Chinese
sovereignty to 1999, that is a commitment which I think a lot of
people will want China to make.
INTERVIEWER:
You said about the talks that it takes two to Tango and the People's Daily responded by saying: "Mr Patten, the tango dancer, come back to your senses, tango dancing has made Chris Patten' s head dizzy and speech incoherent" which is an hilarious quote.
MR PATTEN:
Dennis Skinner does a lot better, doesn't he?
INTERVIEWER:
Yes he certainly does, tango dancers make head dizzy, but in a sense of taking this phrase and analysing it seriously and so on, is it a reflection of the east-west divide that some people say that you are insufficiently sensitive in terms of the Chinese losing face and all of that, do you think there is a difference in the two cultures in a silly way summed up by it takes two to tango, in another way by not finding a way to consult before you announced your plans?
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