IMMEDIATE
enjoy freedom of worship and speech.
You
The bedrock of your way of life is the rule of law that
guarantees fair and equitable treatment for every citizen. It governs all your dealings, personal and financial.
have an independent Judiciary in which every citizen can have
confidence. Because no-one is above the law, the law serves
everyone.
* You have as well a Government in which citizens participate at
every level, a Government supported by a fine public service.
K
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Flourishing in this environment, Hong Kong is the best example
in the post-war world of an open market economy. It is open in
two senses: open to all the many talents of those who work in it; and open to the world with which it trades with such
spectacular success.
These are the distinctive qualities of our system. The
Joint Declaration guarantees that they will all be preserved for
the future. Looking to that future, I would like to make five
brief points this afternoon.
(Next word underlined) First, we can best secure our future
tomorrow by our success today. That is true of our economy and
true of our Government. The strongest safeguard for our
governing institutions will be the effectiveness, vigour and
good sense with which they operate. All of us who participate
in the running of Hong Kong have serious work to do. I look
forward to co-operating with those who share my aim to do everything we can to improve and strengthen the Government of
Hong Kong in the unique circumstances in which history has
placed us. Those circumstances require a spirit of mature
*