Your Excellency Premier Zhao Ziyang, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
First, may I thank you, Premier Zhao Ziyang, for that toast and for the excellent speech in which you proposed it.
It is a privilege and a great pleasure for me to be visiting China for a third time in seven years. Each visit, as you said, Premier Zhao Ziyang, has been all too short, but each visit has made a deep impression on me.
This visit has a special importance, because it marks an historic achievement, that achievement with our signature this afternoon on the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong. In my speech at the signature ceremony, I described the significance which we attach to the Joint Declaration; our determination to make a success of it; and the firm basis which it lays down for the growth and prosperity of Hong Kong's unique society into the middle of the 21st century. I expressed my conviction that the people of Hong Kong would rise to the challenge that lies ahead of them.
The world can draw a lesson from the successful outcome of our joint enterprise: that determined negotiation can succeed where confrontation would surely lead to disaster; that [end p1] goodwill and friendship can overcome misunderstanding; that an intractable problem inherited from the past can be solved through an imaginative approach to the future; and that divisions in international life can be overcome in ways which preserve the autonomy and individuality of the societies affected.
The Joint Declaration is of the highest significance to our two Governments and peoples. Negotiations began on the basis of a common aim for Hong Kong, agreed when I met Chairman Deng Xiaoping in 1982. They were sustained—despite some difficult moments—by an underlying sense that trust and understanding were growing between us. They conclude today in the reaffirmation of our conviction that Britain and China can work even more closely together in the future for Hong Kong, for our two peoples, and for international understanding and prosperity.
There are, of course, great differences between our two societies, but we also have much in common. No civilization has a longer history than China's. In Britain too, we have a great sense of history. Both our people are talented and inventive. The invention of printing in China is so basic to world civilization that we take it for granted, and the productive impulse set off by Britain's Industrial Revolution is still reverberating around the world.
Progress—industrial or social—means change. Such change is never easy. The sense of history and cultural depth we both enjoy has given our societies a great sense of purpose. [end p2] With it, we can tackle change constructively. We must preserve the best of the past in building the future. In that spirit, we welcome the challenge of new technology and will make sure our people will enjoy its benefits.
Both our countries have changed in the seven years since my first visit here, and changed for the better. In China, a new atmosphere of confidence and dynamism has been reflected in steady economic growth over the last five years and increased opening to the outside world. In agriculture, you have had consecutive record harvests for the last five years. China is now the world's foremost grain producer.
These are the first fruits of the reforms which you have instigated, and you are now embarking on an ambitious programme of industrial reform. We watch this process of change with admiration and with intense interest.
In Britain, we have succeeded in controlling inflation; increasing industrial efficiency and output; and most important, in changing attitudes. We too are creating a brighter and more challenging future for our people. The most basic principle which both our Governments are applying is courage to be objective in analysing problems. As you would put it: to seek truth from facts.
When I last came to China, the question of the future of Hong Kong was a problem to be resolved between us. Here too, we had to face change. The negotiations to a successful conclusion we mark today have not only resolved this problem and given solid grounds for confidence to the people of Hong [end p3] Kong. They have also brought Britain and China closer together. They have given fresh impetus to the efforts of both countries to develop strong and wide-ranging relations between us. Excellent prospects for strengthening cultural links already exist; and the potential for economic cooperation is now greater than ever before.
In many of the areas which are essential to your modernisation plans, Britain has a great deal of experience, and I believe we in Britain can make an enormous contribution to helping you build a strong and prosperous China, and we look forward to doing so.
Strength and prosperity at home require peace and stability abroad. As Chairman Deng has said, “Like the rest of the people of the world, we really need a peaceful environment.” How true that is. Both Britain and China have shown themselves capable and willing to work for a more stable world, free of the threat of conflict. With our shared goodwill and our constructive attitude to international issues, we should now redouble our efforts to contribute jointly to world peace and prosperity. The spirit should be that of Tennyson 's ringing call: “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
Zhao ZiyangMr. Premier, it has been a great personal pleasure for me to renew the friendly contacts we had on my last visit. We have had excellent talks again today, and I look forward to welcoming you to London next year. For now, in thanking you for this magnificent banquet, may I use the words of a Chinese saying to describe the growing friendship between our two [end p4] countries: “We have built well, but there is more to do!” In that spirit, I should like to propose a toast: to the health of His Excellency President Li Xiannian; to the health of His Excellency Premier Zhao Ziyang; to the health of His Excellency Vice-Premier Wan Li (phon.); to the health of His Excellency, State Counsellor Gi Pong Fay (phon.); to the health of His Excellency State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Wu Xuequian; to the health of friends from Hong Kong; to the health of all other friends present this evening; to the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong; and to the further strengthening of relations between our two countries. (applause)