Then & Now: Imperial Mint

1975-1980: John Walden was Director of Home Affairs in the Hong Kong government. After his retirement he recorded the widely held belief among senior civil servants that democracy was neither necessary nor useful to Hong Kong:

'Throughout the 30 years that I was an official myself, from 1951 to 1981, 'democracy' was a dirty word. Officials were convinced that the introduction of democratic politics into Hong Kong would be the quickest and surest way to ruin Hong Kong's economy and create social and political instability . . .

'In all those years, civil servants who favoured democratic reform (there were a few, usually from former British colonies in Africa) were regarded as disloyal or even dangerous. Pressure groups advocating political reform or grassroots democracy were carefully monitored by the Government and the Special Branch of the Hong Kong police, and where possible their activities were discreetly obstructed or frustrated, sometimes by the use of highly questionable tactics. This deliberate and active discouragement of the growth of the democratic processes by the Government continued right up to 1980, to my certain knowledge.'

Quoted in The end of Hong Kong: the secret diplomacy of imperial retreat by Robert Cottrell, to be published next month.

March 1993: Governor Chris Patten gazettes a series of electoral reforms that greatly expand the franchise so that every Hong Kong citizen over the age of 18 will be able to vote, directly or indirectly, in elections set for 1995. China calls Patten a whore and accuses the British Government of perfidy.