The Hong Kong group of professionals tasked by Beijing in 1980s to study city pre-handover

Paul Yip Kwok-wah recalls the 1980s when he was commissioned by a mainland Chinese agency overseeing Hong Kong affairs to organise local professionals across the political spectrum to study the city’s systems.

A Beijing-friendly businessman at the time, he would later become a special adviser to Hong Kong’s first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa from 1997 to 2002. Yip noted how the central government’s liberal stance towards Hong Kong in the 1980s was in stark contrast to its tough position in recent years.

In a recent interview with the South China Morning Post, Yip said reports written by professionals in the study were submitted to the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) and he believed Beijing was receptive to their suggestions.

Yip said he had suggested inviting some professionals in Hong Kong to conduct research and set up the ACL Consultancy to coordinate the projects.

He said he was approached in 1983 by Wang Luming and Li Hou, then deputy directors of the HKMAO. “[The office] earmarked HK$2 million to fund the studies,” Yip said.

Nearly 40 professionals and experts from different sectors were roped in, covering political development, the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland, as well as finance, legal, and education matters.

Members involved in the studies included: former Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan; barrister Martin Lee Chu-ming, also the party’s founding chairman; professor of economics at the University of Hong Kong Jao Yu-ching; Chinese University political scientist Chang Chak-yan; and media professional Ng Chi-sum.