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Mr Rifkind: Well, I would certainly not presume to recommend particular individuals for that post but I would certainly want to emphasise to our Chinese colleagues that the position of Chief Executive will not only be crucial given the important tasks that the Chief Executive will have to carry out, but that the choice of person will be seen as very indicative of China's wider approach to the future of the territory. And therefore it is crucially important that whoever is asked to take on this responsibility should be a person who will inspire confidence in Hong Kong; that the very high standards of government that the Civil Service here represent, the absence of corruption, the high quality of the civil service, the continuity that is a desirable objective between now and what happens after 30th June next year, that these should all be maintained. And it is going to be very important also that these very large numbers of people who make the civil service should themselves have confidence in the person who will be the Chief Executive in future so that they will have a strong motivation to carry on their responsibilities with all the enthusiasm and dedication that we have seen in the past.
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Question: Mr Secretary, Francis Moriarti of Radio Television HK. A two part question if I may. First, I have the transcript of what you said yesterday in LegCo regarding the Vietnamese boat people and you make it absolutely clear that this policy is a Hong Kong problem, comes within the concept of autonomy, it is a problem of Hong Kong. So, where do you see Hong Kong's responsibility ending and beginning, and where does Britain's responsibility pick up? Point number one.
Secondly, in going to China, beyond the power of candour and moral suasion, do you go armed with anything - offers of soft loans, trade, anything - that you can use to try to bring the Chinese around to your point of view on any of these issues?
Mr Rifkind: Well, on your first point, the position I think is very, very clear: the policy with regard to Vietnam is the policy of the Hong Kong Executive Council. We have the responsibility, being responsible for Hong Kong's external relations, of acting on behalf of the Hong Kong Government in any representations that are required with regard to Vietnam. We have done that. We will continue to do that as long as we are the sovereign power, as long as we have that sovereign responsibility. That is the proper constitutional relationship and it is one that I think is right and proper. We are not trying to shirk responsibilities. We have worked very, very hard and with considerable success, in co-operation with Hong Kong, on the Vietnamese issue. A lot has been achieved. I believe that the whole effort should be to ensure that we actually complete that process within the time scale that we have indicated and which the Vietnamese Government themselves are committed to, and that is what I am going to concentrate my efforts on.