While last summer's events in Beijing's Tiananmen Square raised the specter of concern, Britain's former senior trade officer to Hong Kong said there is no chance that the hand-over of Hong Kong to China will be delayed.
Reginald Eric Holloway, who is now assigned as Britain's consul general in Los Angeles, told the Deseret News that the Chinese government crackdown on students, resulting in thousands of deaths, had a chilling effect on Hong Kong residents and there was a heavy air of depression for several weeks following the June incident. He said that feeling appears to be easing and it now is pretty much business as usual in Hong Kong's thriving world trade market.Holloway was in Salt Lake on a trade visit, his first trip to Utah since assuming his new post.
Holloway said the international treaty that will turn control of Hong Kong to China in the late 1990s has been registered with the United Nations, and the United Kingdom will honor the pact. He said British officials are watching events in China closely, however, and will exert whatever pressure possible to ensure that the Chinese government lives up to its part of the pact.
That includes allowing Hong Kong to operate as a capitalistic trade center for at least another 50 years. Will the Chinese follow through on that agreement?
"China has a very good reputation concerning international treaties, and we expect that they will live up to the treaty," Holloway said.
Holloway's Salt Lake visit included contacting area companies to promote trade relations with United Kingdom industries. He said much of the consul general effort in the United States focuses on developing new trade relations.
Holloway said staff of his office, which serves Southern California, Arizona, Utah, part of Nevada, Hawaii and other Pacific islands, spend much of their time poring over trade journals, shipping reports and export reports in an effort to identify companies that may be considering expanding operations into Europe. He said Britain is especially interested in companies that might be interested in building manufacturing plants.
"I was very surprised at the support and good will that Britain seems to have in this area," Holloway said. The foreign service officer said he hopes to build on that rapport and to spend more time in Utah in the future.