From: Wing Ng <wing@pegasus.com>
Subject:      [FWD] News re Patten & HK
Reply-To: Wing Ng <wing@pegasus.com>
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 03:44:31 GMT
Comments: To: china-nt@uga.cc.uga.edu,
          soc.culture.hongkong@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu,
          soc.culture.china@pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu

Subject:  WP: A true friend of democracy

               Copyright 1992 The Washington Post
                       The Washington Post

            December  8, 1992, Tuesday, Final Edition

SECTION: EDITORIAL; PAGE A19

HEADLINE: A True Friend of Democracy;
How Inconvenient

BYLINE: Jim Hoagland

DATELINE: LONDON

   At a time when the standing of politicians everywhere has sunk
to  the level of journalists and faith healers,  Britain's  Chris
Patten  is  doing  his profession and his  nation  proud.  He  is
pushing  democracy instead of expediency in dealing with   China.
Send  a politician like Patten to do a diplomat's job and this is
what you get:  confrontation instead of coddling, turmoil instead
of tranquillity and a commitment to letting people decide matters
for themselves. All this has horrified the Communist dictators in
Beijing.      Patten horrifies not only the Tiananmen gang. Cries
of  anguish are also rising in London from the  "Mandarins,"  the
small group of old  China  hands in the British civil service who
advised  successive  prime ministers to tread softly with   China
to protect British rule in Hong Kong.      The leading  Mandarin,
Sir   Percy  Cradock,   is  publicly  warning  the   Conservative
government that it will lose this confrontation, which centers on
democratic  rights  for Hong Kong.  Patten's approach will  bring
repression  and economic disaster for Hong Kong and disgrace  for
Britain,  Sir  Percy,  Margaret  Thatcher's  longtime  diplomatic
adviser,  suggested on television last week.     This is not just
an  intramural  dispute for  Britain's  chattering  classes.  The
argument  here and the confrontation in Hong Kong have erupted as
Bill Clinton,  a potential Beijing-basher,  prepares to take over
from  George  Bush,  a  charter member of  Sir  Percy's  camp  of
coddlers.      Clinton  recently  tiptoed back from his  campaign
attacks by quoting Bush's suspect praise for Chinese progress  on
human  rights.  Clinton was offering a clear signal that he hopes
to  avoid  a  nasty  fight  with Beijing  at  the  start  of  his
administration if he can.      But what Patten has been up to  in
Hong   Kong  is  likely  to  entangle  America.   The  Hong  Kong
confron:ation,  while complicating Clinton's task in dealing with
China,   also  illuminates it.    Patten is hurrying  to  implant
democratic  practices  in  Hong Kong before Britain  returns  the
colony to  China  in 1997.  Thatcher agreed to the return in 1984
under the duress of a threatened Chinese takeover and Sir Percy's
soothing assurances that there is only one way to get along  with
the  Chinese  -- give  in to them.     Arriving  as  Hong  Kong's
governor general this summer,  Patten discovered a large loophole
in  the 1984 agreement that allowed him to double (from 20 to 40)
the  popularly  elected  seats  in the  1995  balloting  for  the
colony's  60-member Legislative Council.  He announced  his  plan
publicly  and  got  support from the Council  -- moves  that  the
Chinese  say they will never forgive.      Beijing's public  fury
and  threats  of retaliation have sent Hong Kong's  stock  market
tumbling and imperil future investment. This economic squeeze war
may  force  the  Legislative Council,  which must  still  approve
Patten's  proposals,  to  soften  them next spring  in  hopes  of
pacifying Beijing.      That would tie the hands of the  British,
who  admittedly  have taken their own sweet time  about  bringing
democracy to Hong Kong's 6 million inhabitants. The 1997 deadline
triggered  more concern about human rights in Hong Kong than  did
140  years  of colonial rule.      It should also be  noted  that
Patten originally did not intend to make his name as a democratic
reformer  in Asia.  Prime Minister John Major installed Patten in
the  comfortable,   well-paid  governor  general's   job,   which
previously had gone to diplomats, after he lost his parliamentary
seat  last April.      But there is every reason to believe  that
Patten and Major are sincere in trying to erect viable democratic
institutions  before the Chinese take over.  Major,  against  the
advice of Sir Percy, took a tough line on human rights in Beijing
last  year.      The  most intriguing part of the public  dispute
here  has been the revelation by Sir Percy of what he thought  of
the Chinese during the long years of accommodationist advice. Sir
Percy  now  warns Major that "it is fatal" to think  the  Chinese
will  give  in  or change  their  ways,  adding:      "They  fear
democracy.  . . . They will not give way" on political reforms to
avoid  economic  damage to Hong Kong or to   China   itself.  Sir
Percy  has also been quoted as having said that the  West  should
not  have been surprised by the Tiananmen massacre.  The  Chinese
leaders "were thugs, are thugs and always will be thugs" who will
not  allow  economic  reform to loosen their  grip  on  political
power.      That's probably accurate. But that's not the tune Sir
Percy,  Bush  or  other coddlers sang in public to justify  their
zeal for not isolating  China.  Just the opposite.    Clinton was
right  in  his  campaign.  Coddling  doesn't  work  with   China.
Confrontation may not persuade the old men in Beijing either. But
Patten has identified the key challenge in dealing with   China's
dictators.      Foreign nations may be unable to influence events
in Beijing much one way or the other. That is all the more reason
for  democratic  countries  -- their diplomats as well  as  their
politicians  -- to stand by the principles of democracy and  bear
witness  to  them,  as  Patten does.  That  puts  the  burden  of
responsibility for  China's  isolation squarely where it belongs:
on Deng Xiaoping's shoulders.





Subject:  BBC: PRC'll fight till the end

    Copyright (c) 1992 The British Broadcasting Corporation;
                   Summary of World Broadcasts

                  December  9, 1992, Wednesday

SECTION: Part 3 The Far East; HONG KONG

PAGE: FE/1559/A2/ 1

HEADLINE:  PRC ''SENIOR CENTRAL LEADER'' SAYS ''WE MUST CARRY THE
STRUGGLE THROUGH TO THE END''

SOURCE: 'Wen Wei Po' Hong Kong in Chinese 8 Dec 92 p2

   Text  of  dispatch from Beijing by staff reporter Chen  Chien-
ping  (7115  1696 1627),  ''Beijing Is Preparing  for  the  Worst
Situation  Which  Might Occur in Hong Kong,  and Various  Central
Departments  Are  Deliberating on a Series of Measures  Aimed  at
Maintaining Hong Kong's Stability''

BODY:

   A senior central leader recently briefed department-level  and
bureau-level  [Chinese si ju ji 0674 1444 4787] cadres in various
central  organs  about  Hong Kong affairs and  pointed  out  When
facing Hong Kong's current problems,   China  is prepared for the
worst situation.  The central leadership holds that struggle over
the  Hong  Kong issue will be unavoidable.  The position  of  the
central leadership is to firmly demand that the Hong Kong British
authorities  return  to  the  path  of  the  Sino-British   Joint
Declaration;  otherwise,  the Chinese side will certainly restart
everything  [ling  qi  lu  zao 0659  6386  3619  3501]  .      An
authoritative  source  here quoted the senior central  leader  as
saying that the essence of the Hong Kong issue for now is whether
we  can  resist  the disruption and obstruction  and  resume  the
exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1st July 1997 according
to  the  Sino-British Joint Declaration.  As an  old  colonialist
power, Britain has left behind a chaotic situation in withdrawing
from every colony since the end of World War II.  This time,  the
Hong   Kong   British   authorities  set  forth   the   so-called
constitutional package,  aimed at leaving a disorderly entity  to
Hong  Kong  after  1997 and making the situation out  of  control
under  the  government  of  the  Special  Administrative  Region.
The  senior leader said The analysis of various facts shows  that
Chris  Patten,  the  new  Governor  of  Hong  Kong,  pursued  his
constitutional package without regard to anything else,  and  his
first  attempt was to build up his personal prestige and  prepare
to return to the political circles in Britain.  We must carry the
struggle through to the end [feng pei dao di 1144 7111 0451 1646]
against  Patten's current practice of violating the  Sino-British
Joint Declaration and violating the understandings and agreements
reached between the Chinese government and the British government
on  Hong Kong's political structure.  He said A major factor  for
Hong  Kong's prosperity and stability is the mainland's  support.
If Hong Kong is brought into chaos [ru guo gao luan le xiang gang
1172  2654 2269 0052 0055 7449 3263] ,  the mainland will just be
slightly  affected,  but  Hong Kong's economy and the  Hong  Kong
people's livelihood will be seriously  affected.  Therefore,  the
Chinese  side has emphatically pointed out to the British that if
the  British  side does not abide by the  Joint  Declaration  and
perversely  takes unilateral action,  we shall certainly  restart
everything [ling qi lu zao 0659 6386 3619 3501] . The leader said
that  we  should  be prepared against the  worst  situation,  but
should also strive for the best results by doing more work.    It
is  learned  that high-ranking leaders in Beijing  recently  held
meetings  in various forms to brief cadres on Hong Kong  affairs.
The signs show that because Hong Kong affairs are related to many
central  departments,  the  central leadership is  preparing  the
adoption of some substantive measures for maintaining Hong Kong's
stability and prosperity.
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