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As an international city, the Hong Kong Government should
maintain a certain proportion of expatriate experts as its technical
consultants. Through them, we can absorb the latest management
experience of various countries, the advanced technical know-hows and
maintain an extensive international relationship. The functions of
the expatriate experts cannot be completely replaced by local civil
servants. Changes in the civil service will be that the local
inhabitants will play a leading role and will not be under the
foreigners. But we also should not take up a closed-door policy
and encourage "close breeding" in the training of manpower.
But we
should remain open and continue to recruit experts from all countries
to teach us the latest executive and management techniques.
On the political structure, if reforms are beneficial to
Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, ther we shall have reforms.
If the disadvantages of reforms emerge sooner than the advantages,
and may do away with the most precious elements of Hong Kong's
success, then we shall not change hastily. In particular, we shall
not change the existing civil service system and bureaucratic system,
resulting in worries among the civil servents who will have no
interest in working, or may even resign. In formulating the Basic Law, views of serving civil servants (including expatriate civil servants) should be taken into careful corsideration. This is an
important component of the democratic construction of Hong Kong. This will be advantageous to a smooth transition and the construction of
the future Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The democratic construction of Hong Kong should allow
different opinions to be argued out, but should also lay down some
principles and clear directions for Hong Kong's political system. As such, democracy in Hong Kong has a bright future ahead.