-
14.
Sir, according to some newspaper reports, it is reported that Mr Lu Ping, your good friend, said that our future Chief Executive might be a dark horse. Now, one wouldn't care very much if it was a black horse or a white horse so long as it is a good horse. Sir, I would like to be asking one question of the Governor: I will be grateful for his view as to what are the factors in the Chief Executive which will affect Hong Kong's economic success? What kind of person? What kind of process, should we go through to maintain Hong Kong's economic success in the future through a very important person, the Chief Executive?
Governor: First of all the honourable lady has given me the opportunity of wishing Director Lu a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I hope that his recovery to full health continues. And I hope that next year he will find more opportunities of visiting Hong Kong and visiting it frequently, and I hope that his diary won't on every occasion be so busy that he is not able to see the Governor of Hong Kong.
Secondly, whatever sort of horse the honourable lady or others have in mind, the one thing which is imperative is that the Governor of Hong Kong should not back it or bet on it, because if the Governor of Hong Kong bets on horses they never win as I have discovered from two recent outings to Sha Tin and Happy Valley.
-
To be serious, I thought the general criteria which the Director of the Hong Kong Macau Affairs Office set out seemed very sensible. It is not right for me to say who should be the Chief Executive of the SAR, and I don't seek to impose or insert my views into the process. But I think that taking the relatively narrow point raised by the Honourable lady in her question that is what sort of qualities help towards the creation of a successful economy in Hong Kong? - I would say that anyone who was dedicated 101 per cent to the continuance of the rule of law in Hong Kong; anybody who was dedicated 101 per cent to continuing to do business in Hong Kong on the same basis that we have in the past, that is with clear and open procedures for franchises and public contracts; anybody who was determined to keep a level playing- field for business in Hong Kong; anybody who was determined to continue to run Hong Kong as an open free economy with low taxes and prudent control of spending; anybody who was determined - determined - to ensure that Hong Kong's economy was run by him or her and Hong Kong people; anybody who had those attitudes would help to ensure that the Hong Kong economy continued to be prosperous.