WE have heard tell of a cunning British Labour Party scheme for Hong Kong if an early general election brings them to power this year.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Robin Cook is on the record as promising he would not replace Chris Patten. But what was previously unthinkable is now being considered with uncommon relish in certain quarters. Consider this game plan: The new Labour Foreign Secretary wants something to make himself look good.
What better than a sweet-smelling political deal with China? So Mr Cook hot-foots it to Beijing. There, Qian Qichen accepts his offer to withdraw the reviled Governor and replace him with a safe pair of career diplomatic hands in return for a promise to, say, have another look at the through-train and the Provisional Legislature.
Having another look is not a commitment to change one's mind, as Mr Cook well knows. But by the time China decides not to have second thoughts, 1997 has passed and other long delayed agreements have fallen into place.
Robin Cook and his appointee get kudos - and Mr Patten finds an urgent need to add his political weight to his defeated party as a front-runner in the post-Major leadership stakes.
Everybody ends up happy - for a while, at least. It's a deal that even people who don't speak to one another can understand. SO nice to hear Paul Keating point out that Australians share the same values as Asians.
Whether his Singaporean counterpart Goh Chok Tong will be convinced that 'Asian Values' and what the Australians call mateship are in Mr Keating's words 'pretty much the same thing', we are not so sure.