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Third, there is the Preparatory Committee, some of whose members are elected to our Legislature, but all of whose members were appointed by Peking as I was appointed by London. Their job, and I want to start with them, is to put what should be the final touches to the arrangements for installing a government of the SAR on 1st July 1997.
Whatever one thinks about the composition of the Preparatory Committee, we must hope that it sets about its important work with wisdom and courage. In the Hong Kong Government, we wish the Committee the best of luck and, as you know, we offer them the hand of co-operation. There will be a more extensive agenda for practical, co-operative action when there is a Chief Executive Designate and team. But we also stand ready before then to give what help we decently can and naturally to keep the community informed about what we are doing. We all know that there are some decisions which the Preparatory Committee could make which would increase its support in the community, and make its job much easier, and give the SAR the best chance of a flying start, to the approbation of this community and of the international community as well. I won't list all the well-known confidence building measures again. Sufficient to say that we all want to see the Hong Kong members of the Committee speaking up for Hong Kong as the best way of asserting our present and future high degree of autonomy.
Let me make one suggestion. In most other places, it would be regarded as a very natural proposal. So we should never slip into the trap of thinking that this sort of idea is somehow out of bounds. The idea is this. Why don't the Hong Kong members of the Preparatory Committee talk to the Legislative Council? Consider the following.
First, the Preparatory Committee has been urged by its Chairman to talk to and listen to the people of Hong Kong. And who represents them most self-evidently? There are Legislators on the PC. They do not deny the legitimacy and representativeness of our own Legislative Council. They certainly didn't during the election campaign. They didn't in the aftermath of their victories. They haven't to date. Talk to Hong Kong and you must talk to LegCo.
Secondly, discussion between LegCo and the Preparatory Committee should be straightforward, since about a quarter of LegCo members have overlapping membership with the Preparatory Committee. And many PC members have in the past embraced very similar views to those of the rest of the Legislative Council.