Chinese warn Britain on Hong Kong

Press, 13 December 1985, Page 18

Chinese warn Britain on Hong Kong

By

JONATHAN MIRSKY

The British Government has been taken aback by a Chinese threat of dire consequences if there are Sweeping democratic reforms in Hong Kong before Peking takes over in 1997.

The Hong Kong stock market, which had been climbing gently for several months as confidence grew that China would keep its word not to interfere in local affairs, immediately fell by a substantial 49 points.

The day before, Xu Jiatun, director of the news agency, Xinhua, which acts like Peking’s “embassy” in the territory, summoned 40 local journalists to his first news conference since he arrived in Hong Kong 2% years ago. The 69-year- ■ old Xu, known previously for his low-key and suave guarantees of * Chinese good will, startled his listeners by warning: “We don’t ' want to see a situation develop in • which the present state of affairs is changed greatly in the next 12 years.” *

He added that nothing must be done to disturb the Anglo-Chinese Agreement on the future of Hong Kong, signed in Peking last January. To do otherwise would be to risk “negative and disastrous effects.”

For several months Xu and his colleagues from Xinhua, who no longer make any pretence of being news gatherers, have been discreetly criticising changes in the territory’s administration. These would be difficult to harmonise with Peking’s own plans for post--1997, to be published eventually in a special ’“Basic Law” for the territory. - \

The Chinese have described the recent indirect election of a minority of councillors on the newly composed Legislative Council as premature, although the Governor, Sir Edward Youde, and his colleagues have been at pains to emphasise that all changes will be gradual and that no pressure exists for direct elections.

When the Hong Kong journalists asked the fulminating Xu exactly what it was he was warning against he refused to specify, but added darkly: “In your hearts and stomachs you know what I’m talking about.” r '

In Whitehall, however, hearts and stomachs remain unmoved. “We don’t know what Mr Xu has in his mind,” said a spokesman, who underlined that both Governments have been working together for a smooth transition.

Xu has never spoken openly in this vein, the spokesman observed, and pointed to the passage in the Agreement which states: “The Government of the United Kingdom will be responsible for the administration of Hong Kong ... and that the Government of the People’s Republic of China will give its cooperation in this connection.”

In Hong Kong, where Xu is seen increasingly as the wielder of real power, alarm is being expressed that Britain is being forced far too early into the position of a lameduck ruler.

It is remembered that not long ago Xu rocked a local gathering by noting that Britain was returning sovereignty and administration to Peking and not to the people of Hong Kong.

Copyright — London Observer Service.