Unsettling Remarks

AN OMINOUS WARNING FROM THE HIGHEST-RANKING Chinese official yet to speak out against Governor Chris Patten's democratic reforms finally sent Hong Kong's key barometer of confidence, the heretofore spook-proof stock market, plummeting nearly 8%. From London, where Patten coincidentally got a ringing endorsement from his friend Prime Minister John Major, Zhu Rongji, the otherwise reform-minded Vice Premier and likely successor to hard-line Premier Li Peng, said the plans violate the bedrock 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration preserving Hong Kong's capitalist ways after the 1997 hand over. He added darkly, "People ask whether we have to stick to the Joint Declaration, or whether it should go with the wind."

Zhu's tough remarks are serious. Such a direct warning from China's most cuddly communist was "carefully measured," said a Chinese analyst in Beijing, and proves that reformists and conservatives agree on the issue. "China," said the analyst, "will never give in to Patten's proposals." Time is on China's side, as 1997 quickly approaches. Patriarch Deng Xiaoping has reportedly urged an unbending stance, advising, "Do not fear tension." The colony should brace for more of it.