Visiting U.S. Officials Are Circumspect

The leaders of China and Hong Kong have appeared to go out of their way to reassure American officials here that fears about the future of this former British colony are unfounded.

But the Americans--including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who left for Washington on Tuesday after a weeklong trip to Vietnam and Hong Kong--have been reluctant to express more than a wait-and-see attitude about what Chinese rule will bring.

This prosperous speck of land has become the largest U.S. overseas business community in the world and the hub of American economic ties to booming East Asia. More than 40,000 Americans representing 1,100 companies live here. U.S. investment here tops $14 billion.

Trade between Hong Kong and the United States reached $24 billion last year, and half the trade between the United States and mainland China passes through here. Hong Kong’s currency is linked to the U.S. dollar.

“The world will be watching closely at everything that happens here,” Albright said Tuesday.

Nearly two dozen U.S. members of Congress were in Hong Kong for the hand-over, including an 11-person delegation led by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) and Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska). Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein was part of another delegation.

Hong Kong’s chief executive, 60-year-old shipping tycoon Tung Chee-hwa, told the U.S. group that China will permit freedom of the press except when issues of national security are involved. Asked if an editorial advocating independence for Taiwan would violate national security, he said that it would.

“That kind of insensitivity to the margins of press freedom does not bode well,” said Cox.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) was uneasy over Tung’s unwillingness to say that Hong Kong will file human rights reports with international organizations, as do most nations.

“My feeling is that Tung Chee-hwa is committed to the economic future of Hong Kong,” said Rep. John Edward Porter (R-Ill.). “My worries are over the rule of law and the continued free flow of information that is so essential to Hong Kong’s prosperity as an international business center.”

Like Albright, the group did not attend the swearing-in ceremony of the appointed assembly.

Sen. Charles S. Robb (D-Va.), was the most upbeat delegate: “I get the sense China understands it’s in its best interests to make sure that Hong Kong not only survives but continues to prosper.”