CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL
DIEV
(b) the overwhelming view in the community is that there should be talks and that the necessary compromises should be made - by one side or the other to ensure that a solution is
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reached. How this is to be done, and at what price in terms of diluting the package, is an unanswered question. But very few people indeed would still argue that the package as a whole is worth defending at any cost.
4.
This diminishing interest in the issues at stake is in part attributable to battle fatigue and boredom with a dispute that has lasted for almost six months. But it is also a measure of the success of the Chinese tactics that the public debate is no longer about the merits of the Governor's proposals (or alternatives) but rather about the row and its wider ramifications. Thus the publication of the bill did not, as one might have expected, stimulate a discussion of the merits of his proposals on functional constituencies or the election committee: instead it generated a collective tremor of concern about retaliation by China and a debate about the importance (or unimportance) of Hong Kong representation at the talks. The community as a whole have not thanked us for taking the stand we did.
5. China's latest attacks on the Governor have further shifted the focus away from substance and onto personalities. In some ways the use of abusive language has backfired on the Chinese by arousing public sympathy for the Governor and respect for his refusal to abandon the norms of civilised behaviour in responding. There are also many in the community who also admire the steadfastness of his convictions and his coolness under
pressure.
6.
But the Chinese verbal abuse and bullying tactics have succeeded in exploiting the fears and prejudices of a community whose sense of insecurity vis a vis China is never far beneath the surface, and whose attitude to British motives and the role of the "Hong Kong British administration" has always been ambivalent. Chinese officials have sensed and played to the mood of the community: Lu Ping's metaphor at his press conference that the Governor "closed two doors" on 12 March was an effective one. He has, I think, managed to convince many people that it was the Governor, not China, who has jeopardised talks; that it is the Chinese Government who are acting reasonably by keeping the door open; and that the ball is now firmly in the Governor's court. In the public mind, if the Governor closed the door, he can open it again.
CONFIDENTIAL & PERSONAL
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