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of law, and it's important to make sure that the way of life in Hong Kong is maintained, and it's that way of life which has
helped to make Hong Kong so prosperous and stable.
But the problem is that China holds all the cards, doesn't it?
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China, and there's no argument about this, China is sovereign
after 1997, we are the sovereign power before 1997. I want to ensure as smooth a transition as possible, but I don't want to do that at the expense of acting wholly dishonourably, at the expense of undermining the future well-being and living standards and way of life of the people of Hong Kong. I think if I was to do that it would be a gross error.
But surely better to make concessions now, or to behave in a way that isn't going to upset China too much now, than to risk the
future?
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I think the future would really be risked if we were to undermine the rule of law, if we were to take the sort of measures which would destroy long term confidence in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been so successful because it's special. It combines entrepreneurialism, Cantonese, Shanghainese entrepreneurialism and the rule of law, clean uncorrupt government. Those are the things that have helped produce the astonishing mix in Hong Kong, and those are the things that we're going to go on fighting for, but we haven't been at all provocative, we haven't been, for example, setting out pre-conditions for talks. We've set out
very reasonable terms, the sort of terms on which we've been
talking for a decade, and it's alas had Chinese officials who are trying to change the rules of the game.
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