Seize the Hong Kong Golf Club? What a difference 25 years make

Reading Edmond Pang’s letter (“Communists wouldn’t even touch Fanling”, January 20) vividly reminded me of a lunch I had with a fairly senior mainland diplomat here in Hong Kong in or around 1993.

Over a glass of wine or two, I was gently chiding him that, while I fully acknowledged that having to deal with then governor Chris Patten could be annoying for anyone, some of us who were disposed in a quite friendly way towards China were becoming increasingly frustrated at its continual stonewalling of Hong Kong’s clearly needed proposal to replace Kai Tak with the building of a new airport. My comment was met with zero response.

In an effort to lighten the mood in what had been until that moment a perfectly pleasant lunch, I added, half-jokingly, “There is another thing. I very much hope that you are not going to seize The Royal Hong Kong Golf Club at Fanling.” This was met with immediate laughter and the retort: “Don’t worry. We don’t want to destroy the golf club, we want to join it!”

How ironic is it that, about 25 years later, we find ourselves in the situation where we are now?

Richard Witts, Sheung Shui