TNAG-2790-FCO40-4029-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1993 — Page 37

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The Other Hong Kong Report 1993

Joint Declaration since its signing in December 1984 and suggested pos- sible causes:

When implementation began following ratification on 27 May 1985 the attitude of the public and the media was one of confidence in the Joint Declaration and respect and gratitude to Britain and China for the achievement. At the time of writing, less than four years later, that attitude has changed to one of disillusionment with the Joint Declaration and deep distrust and resentment towards both signatories and a sense that they have been betrayed by Britain. This submission will not discuss the causes of this change of heart but if the Committee wishes ko understand the reasons for it, it may wish to consider the following possibilities:

(1) that initial official over-confidence in the acceptability of the Joint Declaration to the people of Hong Kong, bearing in mind their deep distrust of the Communist Party of China, led to;

(2) lack of appreciation of the essential fragility of the agreement as a means of

dispelling peoples' fears at the coming change of sovereignty, giving rise to; (3) failure to realise that if the public were to perceive that Britain was in breach of any sensitive provision, the agreement as a whole would be seen to be flawed, as exemplified by,

(4) Britain's action in yielding to Chinese demands to discuss constitucional reforms at the second meeting of the Joint Liaison Group in November 1985 when it was agreed to tailor these to conform with the future Basic Law and Britain's subsequent denials that this had happened, and

(5) the impression given by Sir David Wilson that, since taking up his appointment as Governor of Hong Kong, he has not been willing to take the side of the people of Hong Kong in issues arising from the Joint Declaration when the Peking Government or its agents appear to be deviating from the terms of the Joint Declaration, or going back on their assurances not so interfere in the affairs of Hong Kong either before or after 1997.

Whatever reasons may finally be adduced to account for this loss of public confidence in the Joint Declaration and British assurances of a safe future under Chinese sovereignty, it is an Inescapable fact of Hong Kong political life that there has been serious slippage in Britain's own plans for political reform to achieve truly representative government before 1997. It is unrealistic to suppose that the form of goverment Parliament had in mind for Hong Kong people in 1984 can be realised by 1997.

-Foreign Affairs Committee, Session 1988-89, Second Report - Hong Kong, Volutne II, pp. 431–32

Hong Kong's Concerns

After hearing evidence in Hong Kong between 17 and 22 April and return- ing to London, via Beijing, just five weeks before the June Fourth crack- down there, the FAC rushed out its report on 28 June. The report's 472

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