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British Views of the Legacy of the Colonial Administration of Hong Kong: A Preliminary Assessment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Brian Hook
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The legacy of the colonial administration of Hong Kong, viewed from the majority of constituencies in Britain, is chiefly formed from the characteristics of the territory on the eve of retrocession. This, it will be noted, is in sharp contrast to the views formed by both the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and many Chinese observers. The British prefer to emphasize personal freedoms, the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, the efficiency of government, the competitiveness of business, the preeminent status in international trade, the suppression of corruption, the quality of the engineering infrastructure, and the improving health and welfare provisions as essential characteristics of their legacy.Their Chinese counterparts are much more likely to hark back to the bad old days of national humiliation and imperialist exploitation, seeking to draw the attention of all compatriots to the historical significance of reunification.

Type
The Legacy of the British Administration of Hong Kong: Individual Perspectives from the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 151 , September 1997 , pp. 553 - 566
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1997

References

1 House of Commons Parliamentary Debates 14 November 1996, pp. 514–587, Speech of the Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. John Major, Hong Kong, 4 March 1966. Speech by the Rt. Hon. Baroness Thatcher, Beijing, 14 November 1996.

2 Deng, Xiaoping,On the Question of Hong Kong(Hong Kong:New Horizon Press,1993.Google Scholar

3 Chan, W. K.,The Making of Hong Kong Society(Oxford:Clarendon Press,1991), pp.172–181.Google Scholar

4 Chan Lau, Kit-ching,China, Britain and Hong Kong 1895–1945(Hong Kong:The Chinese University Press 1990), pp.169–219.Google Scholar

5 Miners, N. J.,“Plans for constitutional reform in Hong Kong 1946–52,” The China Quarterly, No. 107(September 1986), pp. 463–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Steve Yui-sang, Tsang, Democracy Shelved: Great Britain, China and Attempts at Constitutional Reform in Hong Kong 1945–1952(Hong Kong:Oxford University Press,1988).Google Scholar

6 Miners, “Plans for constitutional reform.”

7 Speech of the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. John Major in Hong Kong, 4 March 1996.Google Scholar

8 Statements made at a question and answer session in the Hong Kong Legislative Council during a visit in January 1996.

9 Based on oral evidence of the concerns of British business representatives noted in Hong Kong, 1995–96.

10 Miners, “Plans for constitutional reform”.

11 Ibid

12 Ibid

13 Ibid

14 White, Paper,A Draft Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Future of Hong Kong(Hong Kong:Government Printer, 26 September1984) hereafter the Joint Declaration.Google Scholar

15 Brian, Hook, “Political Change in Hong Kong,”The China Quarterly, No. 136(December 1993), pp.840–863.Google Scholar

16 Joint Declaration. The relevant section in the Chinese text of the bilingual version published by the Foreign Languages Press, Beijing reads: “Xianggang tebiexingzhengqu lifajiguan you xuanju chansheng. Xingzhengjiguan bixu zunshou falii, dui lifajiguan fuze.”

17 Chen, Xitong,“Guanyu zhizhi dongluan he pingxi fangeming baoluan de qingkuang baogao,” Renmin ribao {People's Daily), 10 July 1989. This gives a Chinese view of the suppression, sustaining the protests and is therefore useful background material for studying the reaction to the democratization of Hong Kong.Google Scholar

18 Hook, “Political change in Hong Kong”.

19 Chen Xitong, “Guanyu zhizhi dongluan he pingxi fangeming baoluan de qingkuang baogao.”

20 House of Commons Session 1988–89, Foreign Affairs Committee, Second Report, Hong Kong, 28 June 1989.

21 Paragraph 13, Annex 1, The Joint Declaration; Article 39, The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

22 Brian, ,Immigration to and Emigration from Hong Kong in the Transition to Chinese Sovereignty(Hong Kong: One Country Two Systems Economic Research Institute 1992), pp.183–199.Google Scholar

23 Hong Kong 1991(Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1991) p. 33

24 South China Morning Post, 21 January 1997. The aim of the revision was to strip the Bill of Rights Ordinance of its overriding status that required all other legislation to be in line with it.

25 Private communication.

26 This was an outcome of the 1987 review (Green Paper) announced in the 1988 White, Paper, The Development of Representative Government: The Way Forward(Hong Kong:Government Printer, 1988).Google Scholar

27 This is not possible to document. The British hongs were no longer as dominant as in the past. Some had done better than others. There was a range of opinion as to the appropriateness of policies.

28 Michael, Yahuda,Hong Kong: China's Challenge(London:Routledge,1996), p.67,Google Scholarnotes the precedent was the management of the last period of the transfer of authority by Lord Soames in the case of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe. He bases his account on that of Sir Percy, Cradockin Experiences of China(London: John Murray,1994).Google Scholar

29 Rt. Hon.Christopher, Patten, Our Next Five Years(Hong Kong: Government Printer,1992), pp.3–41.Google Scholar

30 Sir Percy Cradock's views were given in evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, 8 December 1993, for the report “Relations between the United Kingdom and China in the period up to and beyond 1997” (London, House of Commons 1994).Google Scholar

31 See for example the speech by Lord Cromer in the debate on Hong Kong in the House of Lords (Hansard, 18 May 1994), pp. 275–280.Google Scholar

32 Tertiary education was expanded by Wilson. The concessions on passports were achieved by Patten.

33 Speech of the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. John Major, 4 March 1996.

34 Private communication.

35 South China Morning Post, Hong Kong, 21 February 1997.