Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to both of our witnesses for their very clear, concise statements.
I want to start, Mr. Chair, by acknowledging the recent work of the U.K. Parliament, which tabled a report, and I just want to read what the report said. It's relevant to our discussion today. In that report on Hong Kong, they said:
The preservation of both the letter and the spirit of the Joint Declaration is crucial to Hong Kong's economic and business success....Recent debates over electoral reform have exposed deep divisions in Hong Kong and a wide divergence of expectations for its political future....In addition to debates on constitutional reform, we heard widespread concern that the autonomy, rights and freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law have been gradually eroded in recent years.... A free press and the right to demonstrate peacefully are essential to the functioning of a free society and are among the most crucial pillars upholding Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy.
I couldn't agree more. Based on what we've heard today, particularly about Canada's role in acknowledging, with our good friends in China, the 1984 process that led to the 1997 agreement, I want to state that we believe, certainly as the official opposition and I think many of my colleagues around the table do as well, that we have a critical role to play, as Mr. Lee stated. We need to see Canada being a responsible actor, having good relations with China. All we're simply affirming is what was agreed to both in 1984 and in 1997, and for the way forward.
I'm interested because Mr. Lee did acknowledge, which I think is important, the trajectory of this. It's a very similar history to Canada's history, you know, having a governor appointed and then having appointees to a legislative body. We went through that in our history. He also said something very important, and it leads to my question. It was that Deng Xiaoping had the vision of this as leader of China, and it is in keeping with his vision that this agreement be honoured.
My question to Mr. Lee is this. We know that he's had pressure from officials, and just recently this past Monday, for his participation in the democratic protests, but I wonder if he could tell us what is happening on the ground with people in Hong Kong. It's been quiet for the last number of weeks, months even, and I want to get from him exactly what is happening on the ground. What can he tell us about how people are feeling and what people are doing to advocate for China, Beijing, and the officials to adhere to the commitment of both 1984 and 1997?