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Patten praises Hong Kong rule

Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten speaks during an interview in the central district of Hong Kong on Saturday. This was his fourth visit to Hong Kong since his posting as Britain's last colonial governor in 1997. PHOTO: AFP

Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten has offered cautious praise for China's hands-off rule of Hong Kong since he handed the reins of the territory to Beijing in 1997.

But in an exclusive interview he urged the Chinese government to grant the city full democracy or risk destabilizing the Asian financial hub. Patten, 61, who is visiting Hong Kong for the fourth time since his five-year term as Britain's last colonial governor ended on a rainy June night eight years ago, said he was generally impressed with the city's new rulers.

"China certainly hasn't lobotomized Hong Kong," he said in reference to pre-1997 fears that China's communist government would impose its authoritarian rule over the tiny southern territory. "The current Chinese government is in a very successful period of economic growth," he added.

"But I still criticize its human rights record and believe that one day it will be democratic," said a tired Patten at the end of a grueling three-days that saw him sign thousands of books, give half a dozen speeches, meet the city's political leaders and take lunch with Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠).

Britain handed sovereignty of Hong Kong back to China after more than 150 years of colonial rule but only after securing assurances from the ruling Communist Party that it would maintain the city's freewheeling capitalist way of life.

Patten was appointed governor in 1992 by then British Prime Minister John Major to oversee the transition. The former governor -- known affectionately in Hong Kong as Fat Pang because of his love of food -- is back to promote his latest book, Not Quite the Diplomat, an irreverent memoir of his 30-odd year political career. Focusing mostly on his stint as the EU's commissioner for external affairs, he pulls no punches in his observations of the world's political leaders.

In a series of speeches and lectures, he similarly lampooned the likes of US President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and various French leaders. However, he has been noticeably coy in reference to China's leaders. He'll not be drawn on his feelings about the current leadership of President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶).

"I don't really know them," he said.

And China's controversial intervention in Hong Kong's judicial system over the past eight years are passed off merely as a "a pity."

His reticence is most noticeable on the one subject with which he is most closely associated -- the democratization of Hong Kong.

Patten's visit coincides with the resumption of a row that has bedeviled the post-colonial administration over the timing of democratic reforms promised in the post-colonial Basic Law constitution.

The document states that Hong Kong's ultimate goal is for its leaders to eventually be elected by universal suffrage.

However, it gives no timeframe for when that should be achieved, an issue that has been at the centre of most of the conflict between the largely pro-democratic half-elected, half-appointed legislature, the government and China.

Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed chief executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) recently proposed a list of moderate reforms, but democrats have objected saying the measures don't go far enough.

As a result, they have threatened to block the reform bill, a move that could paralyze government in a constitutional crisis. As governor, Patten was chastised by China as a "sinner for eternity" when he sought to introduce his own modest democratic reforms behind the backs of Chinese officials negotiating the city's return to China.

Although he said it was "a shame" those changes were rolled back after the handover, he steadfastly refuses to give an opinion on the present row.

"I hope that both sides of the argument will find agreement because Hong Kong is stronger when it is united," is all he will say. "Everybody knows my feelings that Hong Kong will eventually be democratic."

A major theme of his speeches during this tour has been his belief that democracy would be beneficial to Hong Kong. China opposes a swift transition because it fears the change could destabilize the city and choke the conduit of foreign investments that fuels China's economic growth.

Patten, however, says China is barking up the wrong tree.

"Not having democracy is destabilizing," he said.

"I believe that economic and social growth inevitably lead to political consequences," he said.

"Of course, Hong Kong will and must become fully democratic," he added.
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