CHINA has a history of ignoring world opinion. But while what it does in its own backyard is its own affair, abducting alleged smugglers in the territorial waters of Hong Kong is going a bit too far. Hong Kong is no different to Japan, South Korea or Russia, and just as China must respect those countries' territorial rights, so it must respect the territorial rights of Hong Kong. There has been a lot of publicity on the '50 years of no change' for Hong Kong. But if China cannot respect the rights of Hong Kong today, how can one expect China to respect the rights of Hong Kong in 1997? It is about time the Preliminary Working Committee reflected this to the Chinese authorities and the British Government protested against the intrusion at the highest level. C.S. CHANG Causeway Bay
