I
The Rt Hon Christopher Patten
香港
督府
GOVERNMENT HOUSE
HONG KONG
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
5 November 1993
Im
Chiancaller.
I am delighted that you will be visiting Hong Kong later this month, and I am much looking forward to seeing you here. I thought you might find it helpful to have a personal perspective of the present situation in Hong Kong.
Since the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in 1984, Hong Kong has been through many changes. At times confidence in the future has been fragile. In the aftermath of the events in Peking in June 1989 it hit rock bottom. Now, however, with under four years to go before the transfer to Chinese sovereignty on 1 July 1997, Hong Kong is thriving and the outlook is generally bright.
Economically, the picture is extremely bright. Hong Kong's economy is nearly twice the size it was when the Joint Declaration was signed. It will grow about 5% this year in spite of the recession in most of our main overseas markets. We are the tenth largest trading entity in the world. We have full employment and a per capita GDP that is now overtaking Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Hong Kong has a strong position both as an international business centre for the Asia-Pacific region and as the best springboard for doing business with China. German companies have long recognised this and are well-represented here. 26 German companies have their regional headquarters in Hong Kong; 8 German banks are licensed here, and several others have offices. In all there are some 490 German companies operating in Hong Kong. So German businessmen, along with other European, Japanese and US businessmen, are taking full advantage of Hong Kong as a base for doing business in Asia, and for tapping the unique potential of the rapidly emerging Chinese economy.
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