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Governor: No, I don't believe that is happening but obviously, whenever there is any question of morale it is a matter that I want to address very rapidly. And I would have thought, to be frank, that Chinese officials would recognise that too.
Question: Mr Patten, how far is Britain prepared to go to get these Hong Kong people back and these ships back?
Governor: Well, we addressed our concerns in both Peking and in London yesterday and I am sure that the Chinese authorities will have taken note of the extreme concern which we have about this matter.
Question: What is the correlation between weak or strong government on this issue?
Governor: I think that the remark that you are referring to is one that an official made in response to questions. I don't think he raised the issue himself. Okay?
Question: How can the rules of engagement on border protection be seen as adequate with Hong Kong people being abducted by Chinese gunmen in daylight?
Governor: The rules of engagement, both for the Police and for the Royal Navy, are in our judgment wholly adequate. In every circumstance what those on the spot and those who are able to consult have to weigh in the balance, is the security of our Police and the objective on the other hand which they want to achieve. And that is a difficult balance to strike and I don't want to second guess those who are in operational command.
Question: Taking this incident and other issues in the headlines these days, such as the Budget, such as the Civil Service late last year, are you not concerned that these incidents create a cumulative impression in the minds of the Hong Kong public that China is behaving as though 1997 is already here and that your authority is being undermined?
Governor: Well, what they do, if there are too many incidents like this, is obviously to create anxieties about 1997 and beyond and those are anxieties which none of us want to see, and those are anxieties which it is in everybody's interest to try to dispel. It's partly because we have to work together and co-operate together that I have been, remain and will always be very keen to talk to Director Lu Ping about these matters. There's been more controversy about that in the papers today, not because of anything I've said but because of things that Director Lu Ping has said. Let me make it absolutely plain: long before Director Lu Ping went to the United States, I invited him, once again to be precise I invited him in February - to come and see me in Hong Kong next time he was able to be here. We recognise that his diary, perhaps, gets full up when he is coming to Hong Kong, so we gave plenty of notice which would enable him to find time in his, as they say, busy schedule next time he was in Hong Kong. There is an obligation on us to meet - it is in the Memorandum of Understanding,
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