IT is disturbing to realise that as Hong Kong features more prominently than ever in parliamentary debates in London and Beijing, parliamentarians in both countries remain largely unaware of what is at issue in these final years of the territory's momentous transition.
Governor Patten's ''reform package'' became an appended but dominating item on the agenda of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) meeting a year ago. Mr Patten gazetted his controversial bill shortly before the opening of the NPC's plenary session. This was seen by Beijing as a move to sabotage any attempt to resolve Sino-British differences by diplomatic negotiations, and the Chinese parliamentarians were infuriated.
Hong Kong remained the hottest topic throughout the meeting. NPC representatives from the remotest provinces spoke with vehemence in denunciations of British perfidy and conspiracy. They were convinced that the British did not want to see Hong Kong returning smoothly to China, and the British Governor was doing his best to prevent it happening.
''We are no longer living in the Opium War age,'' the parliamentarians reminded each other. Some pointed out that the British wanted to go on ruling Hong Kong beyond 1997. Others warned that when the imperialists withdrew they would leave the territory in chaos. It would be a mistake to think that the indignation of the NPC members was inflamed by the Chinese Government. No inflammation by the government was necessary. In fact, the government had to make efforts to contain the members' anti-British feelings, to avoid the main theme of the plenary session being eclipsed by demonstrations of such patriotic feelings.
A year has elapsed and another annual meeting of the NPC is about to take place. For those NPC members whose attention was drawn to the Hong Kong political dispute last year, it must have been no easy task to keep track of these 12 eventful months. The Sino-British talks have opened and closed. The Preliminary Working Committee has been formed and is holding monthly meetings in Beijing. Electoral legislation is proceeding in Hong Kong without an agreement between China and Britain. The PWC is making plans for new elections in 1997.
Once again the NPC members will be infuriated to know that the Hong Kong Government has taken unilateral action in gazetting an electoral bill. Only this time action does not stop at the gazettal. Many will have difficulty finding new expressions for their feelings now, for they exhausted their vocabulary of strong words last year.