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Mr Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen: Governor, it seems to me that it has been the Hong Kong way for the Trade Development Council to assist promotion of trade in Hong Kong.
Governor: Yes, I agree with that. The Trade Development Council does an outstanding job. It's helped to promote our exports in manufacture and it may well be appropriate for it to help the development of our exports in services as well. I think that is rather different to what I took to be the Honourable Member's proposal. Maybe I misunderstood him, but I have seen one or two reflections of that elsewhere. Of course we have some economic problems. On the whole they are problems associated with success rather than failure and I don't want to do anything which inhibits that
success.
If you keep on winning at Happy Valley, if you keep on coming away on a Wednesday evening with money in your pocket, which is not something that's ever happened to me I should add, you don't, I think, conclude that you should stop taking advice from the person who's been giving you tips. We've done very well in Hong Kong, no thanks to this Governor particularly, you've done very well in Hong Kong following classical market economics for the last 40 years and I would be amazed if anybody seriously thought we should overthrow that now.
President: In accordance with Standing Orders I now adjourn the Council until Wednesday October 18, 1995, at 2.30pm.
End/Thursday, October 12, 1995
Governor in RTHK's phone-in programme
The following is the transcript of RTHK's phone-in programme in which the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, took part this (Thursday) morning:
Nick Beacroft: Governor, Good Morning thank you for joining us on this special phone in programme. Can I perhaps get some immediate reaction from yourself to Democratic Party members and some trade unionists who have said that they will table private member's bills to halt the influx of foreign labour. Do you feel that you are already on the road to confrontation with the Legislators.