SOME people seem to have expected far too much from the visit to China by Alastair Goodlad, the Foreign Office Minister responsible for Hong Kong affairs. The political judgment of Liberal Party chairman Allen Lee Peng-fei, for instance, is highly questionable if he thought Mr Goodlad should have been able to ensure either of the disparate goals of ''a smooth transition or improvements in relations between the two governments''. Mr Goodlad is not Superman.
In any case, junior ministers are rarely in a position to produce immediate improvements in relations between governments. Unless they are bearing gifts, are even less likely to have much impact when one government feels it has recently been publicly insulted by the other, as is the case of China with Britain.
Nevertheless, most people in Hong Kong hoped that the visit might produce some improvement in relations. Instead, Beijing seems to have returned the British relationship to the deep freeze, after initial signs of a thaw. Mr Goodlad's own assessment that the visit was worthwhile is a face-saving attempt to put the best gloss on a failure. The only people who would have found the trip worthwhile would have been senior officials in Beijing, for it gave China a chance to highlight its anger with Britain over the passage of Governor Chris Patten's limited constitutional reforms.
For Britain, which pushed for the visit, the benefits are not apparent. There has been no breakthrough on sticky economic issues, such as the Container Terminal 9 project and financing for the new airport. The visit appears to have been misconceived and not particularly well executed.
Mr Goodlad's trip should serve as a reminder that improvements in relations will take time and hard work. It is a reminder, too, of the problems for Hong Kong in China's attitude. Beijing remains furious with Mr Patten. Not only is it failing to separate politics and economics, it cannot separate personalities and economics.
China has snubbed a British minister and, by extension, the British Government. It should be mature enough to realise it does not need to play the game of international humiliation; at least it should recognise it has won this round and there is no need for another. It should focus on the real issue of Hong Kong and the co-operative measures needed to ensure economic progress here.
