British politicians, on visits or on loan to Hong Kong, try these days to pre-empt the historians' verdict by espousing 'moral responsibility' for our people way into the next century long after the Union flag flutters here no more.
Most of us may not doubt the noble British sentiment, if sentiment is all it is, but we certainly question the value of this 'moral responsibility' when Britain could not even meet its fiscal and administrative responsibility for its last great colony.
Out scepticism stems from two recent statements and the silence from Britain on both. The first was from the Secretary for Security Peter Lai Hing-ling who during a press conference admitted that the British administration could not repatriate all the 4,800 Vietnamese asylum-seekers left in local camps, despite an early diplomatic assurance to the Chinese Government that they would be cleared out before the sovereignty transfer.
The second was from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata who, after a tour of the camps for which she gave high marks, admitted that her bankrupt agency could not repay the $1.15 billion debt owed to Hong Kong.
Britain was conspicuously mute on these two points, giving us the distinct impression that it would not take in all of the Vietnamese left stranded here, nor would it compensate the Hong Kong treasury for the Port of First Asylum Policy it adopted in 1979 for the colony without public consultation.
Many of us here feel that an honourable retreat must entail the tidying up of old, messy business, including the resolution of the asylum-seeker problem which the British foisted on to Hong Kong. So far we have been disappointed. For the past 18 years we have shouldered the boat-people burden from which Britain won for a time international kudos at no real costs to itself.
The Hong Kong public showed considerable compassion towards the Vietnamese during the early days of the influx. Thousands of the 'Cochin Chinese' driven out by the Government in Hanoi were integrated into our society and many have since prospered. I recall the days when our people went to help the refugees ashore and donated cash, clothes and food to the new arrivals because we too had memory of privation and of the flight for opportunity.