CONFIDENTIAL
IMMEDIATE
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co-operation in the business of government rather than sterile partisanship.
To govern is to choose and choice is invariably difficult. Good political leadership involves facing up to hard decisions, taking them, setting out clearly what has to be done when all the talking is over, and winning consent
consent for the course that has to be pursued.
That is why I wish, while preserving the authority and dignity of my office, to make my Governorship as open and accessible as possible. But the ultimate responsibility of leadership rests with me, in what is and will remain an executive-led
government.
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20 (Next word underlined) Secondly, our personal and collective
ambitions and prospects are inevitably linked to the success of the economy in which we work. Hong Kong knows better than anywhere that it cannot rest on laurels won in the past. We have to strive continuously to maintain and improve our competitive-ness for tomorrow's world, certain only of one thing that our competitors will do the same. We cannot stand still.
the We must continue to build for that future. That is why the new airport and all the infrastructure projects associated with it are so important. I assume that is one reason why the Prime Ministers of Britain and China have both expressed their personal commitment to this exciting work. It is a great undertaking worthy of the great city it will serve.
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When the airport and the new port, and the bridges, and the railways, and the land reclamation, and the roads, and the homes are completed we know that the whole project will act as a dynamo for further wealth creation, not just in Hong Kong but in