(3 of 3)
Other possible solutions include a gradual transfer of authority from Britain to China over a 15-to-30-year period, or joint rule by a two-nation committee. Another way out of the impasse would be a deal that makes an artificial but face-saving distinction between the recognition of sovereignty and its actual exercise. Britain could recognize Peking's claim, fly the Chinese flag alongside the Union Jack over Government House and make other symbolic concessions while maintaining its present administrative control. Noted a British diplomat: "This would replace the fiction that Hong Kong is part of Britain with the fiction that it is part of China." That is as good an idea as any. Indeed, with that characteristic Hong Kong mix of greed and imagination, vendors are already selling T shirts emblazoned with the message "2096 OK" next to a crossed-out "1997."
— By Jay D. Palmer.
Reported by Sandra Burton and Ross H. Munro/ Hong Kong