WITH exactly two years until the transfer of sovereignty, things look bleaker for Hong Kong - and for China - than they have at any time since 1989.
The main reason I entered politics and have fought for democracy for over a decade was to preserve Hong Kong's way of life and especially the rule of law and our independent judiciary. My original vision was that by keeping our legal system intact, we could spread Hong Kong's rule of law to China and point the only way for the future: one that would lead to peaceful and lawful change in China from the rule of man to the rule of law, and legitimacy for China to take its rightful place as a member of the world community.
I have always devoutly hoped that it would not be China's system of corruption, tyranny of the state over the individual and lawlessness which takes over Hong Kong, but that we would instead extend to China the best things from our system: free markets, respect for individual aspirations and human rights, and the rule of law.
Even in the early 1980s, when I first began to talk to the leaders in China about Hong Kong, a number of them recognised that China's best option was to stamp out corruption and introduce a real rule of law, not of men or of communist party cadres. For the people who have China's long-term best interests at heart, this must still be the best hope for the future. Now it seems that hope is lost - not by Hong Kong people, who know only too well the value of our rule of law and way of life - but by the British Government and Governor Christopher Patten, who have now compromised irretrievably what would have been their greatest legacy to Hong Kong.
China was not supposed to take over in 1995 - or even 1997. Hong Kong people were to be masters of our own house, and in the now empty phrase of the Joint Declaration, Hong Kong people were to rule Hong Kong, 'with a high degree of autonomy'.
In light of the recent bad Sino-British deal on the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), the question of whether Governor Patten should 'govern or administer' now seems so irrelevant as to be virtually meaningless. As an elected leader of Hong Kong people, I believe that many Hong Kong citizens now fear the last two years of British rule as China calling all the shots and Governor Patten carrying out these decisions - however adverse for Hong Kong. Instead of governing Hong Kong, the Governor has apparently chosen instead simply to 'administer' the decisions of Beijing and the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC). This course of action ties Hong Kong people's hands as everything is negotiated secretly in Britain and China's interests.