From: newsdis%bat@CSD.HKU.HK (News Distributor)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.hongkong
Subject: China & HK News
Date: 30 Jul 92 17:41:26 GMT
X-Unparsable-Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 23:52:51 HKT

Source : South China Morning Post
Date   : 3th July, 1992

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Breakthrough unlikely over row on financing
Patten raises hopes--at least on the political front
Candidate rejects CRC election offer
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Breakthrough unlikely over row on financing
===========================================

By FANNY WONG

SINO-British negotiators are bracing today for another round of fruitless
talks on the financing of the airport plan in a Joint Liaison Group
Airport Committee meeting.

Although the Chinese team agreed to the meeting, the second in a fortnight,
members are not expected to give a concrete reply to a British proposal,
tabled at the committee's last meeting, which would enable an early
start on the Chek Lap Kok construction work.

Instead, the British team, led by Mr Tony Galsworthy, is likely to
be under fire again after the Hongkong Government's announcement yesterday
that recently proposed cost-cutting measures for the controversial
airport railway were not viable.

The Secretary for Transport, Mr Michael Leung Man-kin, said any further
cost reductions could not be achieved without lowering the quality
and safety of services, and the viability of the project.

"The Government has come to this view after carefully considering,
in consultation with the Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC),
various suggestions for further cost reductions of the airport railway,"
Mr Leung said.

"The public concern about the cost of the airport railway is fully
appreciated, and the Government shares this concern, but cuts are
not viable."

Speaking on the eve of the negotiations, a vice-director of the local
branch of the New China News Agency, Mr Zhang Junsheng, said the British
side's tactics to release information before meetings was not conducive
to the talks.

On the eve of the last Airport Committee meeting the Government announced
that the size of the Exchange Fund was a massive $236 billion.

"If (the British side) deliberately spreads news before every meeting,
I believe it is harmful to the airport talks," Mr Zhang said.

But he declined to say whether he was optimistic about today's meeting.

"The solutions are decided by the British rather than the Chinese
side," he said.

But the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, expressed hope that the Airport
Committee talks would be successful.

"There are several issues to resolve. Sooner or later we have got
to resolve the issues that are outstanding and I obviously hope it
will be sooner rather than later," he said.

Speaking after separate briefings to the Legislative Council ad hoc
group studying the airport finances and the Airport Consultative Committee,
Mr Leung stressed that the announcement on cost-cutting proposals
had nothing to do with today's airport talks.

He declined to comment on whether he believed the announcement would
affect the atmosphere at today's meeting.

Although the Government rejected the cost-cutting proposals, Mr Leung
said it did not mean any other measures would not be considered.

However, he declined to comment on whether the Government was considering
ways to reduce the amount of callable equity to be provided to the
MTRC, saying only that the administration would not rule out other
feasible arrangements.

MTRC chairman Mr Hamish Mathers said cutting costs would reduce revenue
and the profitability of the airport railway project as well as jeopardising
passenger safety.

The corporation's credit-rating would also be adversely affected.

Of the proposed cost-cutting measures, deferring the building of the
Tung Chung station would have cut costs by $900 million, but would
reduce the railway's revenue-earning ability and lead to an increase
in the callable equity from the present $12.5 billion to $14 billion,
Mr Mathers said.

The corporation's revenue loss could amount to about $5.3 billion
by the year 2010.

It would also lose $800 million in profits from associated property
development at Tung Chung. The loss in land premium to be paid to
the Government would be about $5.75 billion at 1991 prices.

The $5.75 billion would be spilt between the Government and the future
Special Administrative Region.

Reducing the number of tracks between the Lai King and Tsing Yi stations
from four to two would cut both the frequency and reliability of the
train service, Mr Mathers said. Nor was scaling down the size of the
airport railway stations feasible.


Patten raises hopes--at least on the political front
====================================================

By JONATHAN BRAUDE

HONGKONG people's confidence in the future is higher than at any time
since the signing of the Sino-British Memorandum of Understanding
over the airport last year, probably because of the arrival of the
new Governor, Mr Chris Patten, a survey co-sponsored by the South
China Morning Post shows.

It also found that a substantial majority, especially the young and
well-educated, disagree with China over its opposition to the appointment
of United Democrats to the Executive Council.

While political hopes generally are high, economic confidence has
fallen slightly over the past three months especially among the lower
paid, and household spending plans have been curtailed.

The latest quarterly survey from pollsters Survey Research Hongkong
for the Post and Ming Pao was conducted between July 6 and 10, the
week of Mr Patten's arrival in Hongkong.

It showed 42 per cent of the 1,011 respondents thought Mr Patten would
increase confidence in the territory, more than four times the number
who believed confidence would be undermined.

Young people in particular were keen on the new Governor, with 59
per cent of those between 15 and 24 believing he was good for confidence.

Fifty-seven per cent of the general public was opposed to China's
stand on the appointment of United Democrats to Exco, and here again,
the young and the higher socio-economic classes took a stronger line
at 64 and 67 per cent respectively.

Overall, the SRH political confidence index is put at 93, compared
with 94 the previous July but 90 in January this year. (The index
takes confidence in January 1985 as 100, but after a brief surge to
101 the following quarter, has never reached those giddy heights again).

However, there was a slight decline in the economic confidence index,
which reached 91 in April after plummeting to 88 in January in the
days immediately before the Gulf War.

The latest survey puts the index at 90, compared with 94 after the
signing of the airport pact last year.

The survey explains that while 74 per cent of respondents (76 per
cent in April) see the present economic situation as positive and
two out of three expect the outlook for the next 12 months to improve
or at least remain the same, 27 per cent see the present situation
as bad and a third think it will deteriorate.

The pessimists tend to be in the lower income groups and the less
educated, largely reflecting fears of personal financial hardships
at the lower end of the income scale.

However, when it comes to spending plans, the survey finds middle
income families are also holding back.

The SRH purchase intention index fell from 93 to 90. More than half
(55 per cent) of those interviewed said they were less likely to make
major purchases in the next three months, including 64 per cent among
the less well paid and educated and 62 per cent from households with
an income of $8,000 to $14,999 per month.

As SRH director Mr Louis Tong Fuk-hung explained, "In general, we
are still doing very well in Hongkong, but behind every rosy picture
we must always note that the less privileged are most affected by
what happens to the economy."

Mr Lee Cheuk-yan, chief executive of the Confederation of Trade Unions,
said "The basic problem is that those who suffer most and don't have
confidence are those who are unemployed and underemployed, especially
in the manufacturing and construction industries."

With manufacturing moving to China and fewer jobs on building sites,
unemployment at 2.6 per cent and underemployment at 2.2 per cent,
the lower paid were understandably worried about their prospects.

However legislator Dr Leong Che-hung said the survey seemed to reflect
the hopes raised by the Governor, but he would not make a judgement
before he had seen Mr Patten in action. "There is no doubt the Governor's
first speech was very confident, but the question is how will he face
up to China and to what he has promised to do. We will wait to see
how he moves towards the open government he promised," Dr Leong said.


Candidate rejects CRC election offer
====================================

By LANA WONG and SHIRLEY YAM

LEGISLATIVE Council candidate Dr Tang Siu-tong has turned down an
offer of help from the Co-operative Resources Centre (CRC) in his
contest for the New Territories West seat to avoid possible backlash
from "party politics".

The CRC had offered to support and assist in Dr Tang's election campaign
in the hope he would join the group if he won the election, according
to his campaign manager, Mr Tso Shiu-wai.

But Dr Tang's aides were concerned with the negative image of the
centre, which could offer no grassroots support to Dr Tang.

The medical practitioner accepted his aides' advice not to get involved
in "party politics" inside Legco at an early stage, said Mr Tso.

Putting in his nomination yesterday, Dr Tang, a Heung Yee Kuk member,
stressed that he would run as an independent in the battle for the
seat vacated by the late Mr Stephen Ng Ming-yum of the United Democrats
of Hongkong (UDHK).

Dr Lam Kui-chun of the centre confirmed that he had personally offered
help for Dr Tang who was his schoolmate and a life-long friend.

Noting that Dr Tang had not responded to his offer, Dr Lam said the
candidate might not find the help necessary after considering his
constituency's special political environment.

He denied that his offer was made on condition that Dr Tang would
join the centre but agreed that it would help to build a close relationship
with the candidate.

A CRC source said Dr Tang's refusal was understandable because "the
United Democrats may make use of his association with the centre to
attack him".

Speaking after submitting his nomination, Dr Tang said the Legislative
Council had now been turned into a battlefield for different parties.

"The Legislative Council very much needs an independent voice which
is free from party control," said Dr Tang, who has lost twice in the
Legco contest.