FOR those looking for straws to clutch at, there have been a few blowing in the wind in recent weeks. Since China's extraordinarily vitriolic attack on Jardines last month, even those who hope the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, was preparing to climb downor go home, or those who wanted China to signal a readiness to accept constitutional reforms, could see some promising signs of a break in the deadlock.
The Governor's remark on Tuesday that the 1995 electoral arrangements approved by the Legislative Council should be acceptable to Hongkong's present and future sovereign powers was only the latest in a lengthening list of hints that one side or the other might be softening its stance. Previously the conservative Co-operative Resources Centre reported the Governor had said he would be prepared to alter his proposal for the election committee to be made up of directly elected members of the District Boards. However, whoever took their place must also be elected, he said.
More significant to some was the Prime Minister's decision to meet representatives of the CRC, without finding time in his schedule to meet pro-reform legislators.
On the pro-democracy side, Beijing's unexpected silence following the attack on Jardines sparked hopes that a less abrasive attitude was emerging, or at least a willingness to differ discreetly. The Director of China's Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Lu Ping, is thought to have come under pressure from the business community, both here and on the mainland, to moderate his criticisms. The damage caused by his remarks was most obvious on the Hongkong stock market, where confidence took a knock.
However Chinese interests also suffered, especially those businesses and individuals who hold substantial investment portfolios here, in public or in private.
However, after a week in which the Hang Seng Index rose by more than six per cent, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Wu Jianming, local New China News Agency Director Mr Zhou Nan and his deputy Mr Zhang Junshen, all did their best to cool any optimism, warning that Beijing will not accept anything that diverges in any respect from the Basic Law, even if it is passed by the Legislative Council.