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Mr Lee Wing-tat (in Chinese): Mr Foreign Secretary, you have repeated that you'!! consider that when the Chinese formally express their stance. It seems that you are just mentioning opinions today. What can the British Government do? Now, Mr Albert Ho has mentioned the views of our council. Apart from making a resolution at the Commission of Human Rights, now what alternatives do we have to tackle this problem? Not simply voicing opinions but to tackle this problem.
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Mr Rifkind: I think the important point that we would all recognise is that decisions of the Chinese Government on matters such as the Bill of Rights Ordinance are not just important in themselves though they are important in themselves but they are also important as evidence of the wider attitude of the Chinese Government to the obligations of the Joint Declaration and of the Basic Law. And therefore it will be important to emphasise that if the Chinese Government feel able to recognise the BORO follows directly from the International Covenant on Political Rights which has been accepted by the Joint Declaration, that will be a matter of very considerable reassurance to Hong Kong as well as to the British Government that we are all working towards the same objective. So that is an important point to get across in the kind of exchanges that we will be having and which I hope will be both constructive and fruitful.
Mr Chan Kam-lam (in Chinese): Mr Foreign Secretary, I am sure you will understand one thing, say for a passport holder if he can get visa-free entries in other countries it will facilitate his travel, his studies overseas or his businesses overseas. For the Hong Kong citizens, starting from July 1st, 1997, they will hold SAR passports. Now you are visiting China, will you mention this to the Chinese leaders so that they can understand that when they say our passport holders go to the UK afler 1997, they can get visa- free entry? So can you say here something about the actual situation?
Mr Ritkind: I understand the importance attached to this subject. We in the British Cabinet have not yet addressed this issue, for a very good reason, that we have been waiting for proper and full information from the Chinese Government with regard to the SAR passport, how it will operate, the way in which it will apply, what privileges it will convey. Some of that information has now been provided, but not all of it, but I would hope that it will be provided very soon and I would expect that the Cabinet in the United Kingdom will address the question of visa-free access in the relatively near future. I don't want to see this delayed very long because I understand that people would like to have a very clear position on this. so I would hope that it can be addressed in the early part of this year and that we can get a clear and definite policy. I don't want to anticipate what that will be. I have to discuss it with my colleagues, but I do recognise that it's desirable to get a position that is clear and straightforward on this matter in the near future and I would hope to be able to do that.