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Governor: Well, I have said before. I know it's slightly frustrating for you but I think that the right way for us to handle this issue is to talk directly to Chinese officials rather than discuss things through the medium of television or the media. One reason why I say that is because I sometimes think it's not your fault but I sometimes think that our positions are apparently stated which turn out to be not the position at all. For instance, I saw one Chinese official the other day being quoted as having an open mind about whether or not Hong Kong Government civil servants should be members of the preparatory team and within days other officials were pouring a lot of cold water on the idea for perfectly good reasons. So I think it would be more sensible for us to have those negotiations head-on, face to face with Chinese officials. But I shall, of course, want to ensure that the Legislative Council is kept fully in the picture about the co-operation that we've proposed with the Preparatory Committee and with the Chief Executive and team designate. We'll, of course, with the new Legislative Council for the first time wholly elected and representing the entire community, we'll want to deepen our relationship with the Legislative Council as well and part of that will involve keeping it informed about transition issues.
Question: Regarding the right composition of the Exco, will that be the Chinese officials shouldn't put any fingers in, that is your jurisdiction and nobody should advise you?
Governor: Well, I wouldn't put it like that. But I will not be attempting in any way to choose or affect the choice of the team designate. I've got quite enough problems and challenges without being so impertinent as to do that, and I am sure that the Chinese officials would expect the Governor of Hong Kong to choose his own Executive Council and the Executive Council I've got is extremely broad-based and very intelligent.
End/Wednesday, June 28, 1995
Govt's response to HK Bar Association statement on CFA
The following is the Government's response to the statement from the Hong Kong Bar Association on the Court of Final Appeal:
The Government is disappointed by the statement issued by the Hong Kong Bar Association on June 26 on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) Bill and the agreement reached between Britain and China on June 9 on the question of the CFA.