Once a pariah, Patten given warm welcome in China

SHANGHAI, July 25 (Reuters) For a man once denounced as an enemy of China, former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten received a warm welcome today as he visited Shanghai to promote a book on his political views.

Local newspapers scheduled interviews with him, and state television expressed interest. A local business school has invited him to speak.

Sales of the book, ''Not Quite the Diplomat'', in China are ''decent'', said Jo Lusby, general manager for publishers Penguin Group in China. A deal has been done with another publisher to translate the book into Chinese -- though it remains unclear whether Chinese censors will insist on changes.

It was a turnaround from the 1990s, when Chinese media condemned Patten as ''biased'', ''hostile'' and a ''sinner'' for his attempts to introduce democratic reforms in Hong Kong before the British colony reverted to China in 1997. His 1998 book ''East and West'' could not be bought legally in China.

In an interview at a restaurant among the colonial-era buildings of the Shanghai Bund, Patten said his belief in the importance of China and the need to involve it in global decision-making may have helped his reputation in the country, despite his political differences with Beijing.

''I don't think the Chinese have changed their views on my views about politics,'' he said. ''But they must note that I argue as vigorously as anyone that China is not a threat.'' Patten, now Chancellor of the University of Oxford after serving as European Commissioner for External Relations between 1999 and 2004, said he had seen ''no clear sign'' that Chinese leaders were moving towards democracy.

As he did during the 1990s, he castigated Beijing for not introducing fully democratic elections in Hong Kong, saying this refusal was ''destabilising'' for the territory.

But he acknowledged that spectacular economic growth in China was changing the society, creating a ''feel-good factor'' and giving people more choices -- changes that could eventually prompt political reform.

''I am convinced that sooner or later economic change dictates political change,'' Patten said, declining to predict a timeframe.

REUTERS MQA PM2054