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So I do see a role for the British Government. We played a role before. I see a role for the British Government, the Hong Kong Government, and the Vietnamese Government. I do not see quite such a role for individuals elsewhere. But for those three groups I do see a role and we are acting to see if we can get this programme moving again satisfactorily.
Question (Mike Brunson): Prime Minister, in your speech you mentioned in passing that if necessary, you would be prepared to take legal action if China is in breach of the Joint Declaration. Will you underline that again? But on the other hand do you not think that that is likely to anger Beijing as much as it might reassure those people here?
Prime Minister: We are not in the business of angering anyone. We have had significant discussions and negotiations with the Chinese and that will continue to be the position. We are not in the business of angering anyone but neither are we in the business of not making clear what the options are in certain circumstances. And I think it is right that everybody should know what the options are that might conceivably be pursued by the British Government 'were it necessary to do so'. And I stress that last point 'were it necessary to do so'.
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And what we have said is that if there were breaches of the Joint Declaration, we would have we the British Government - would have a duty to pursue every lega! and other avenue available to us. And what I reaffirmed at lunch-time today is that that is precisely what we would do. We would pursue every legal and other avenue open to us. And I hope that will be a clear reassurance to people who fear that there can, with impunity, be a breach of the Joint Declaration with no response,
Question (Carrie Tan, Oriental Daily): Does that mean that you are going to sue China in the International Court if China is going to dismantle LegCo?
Prime Minister: I have set out precisely what I meant. I am not going to put further flesh on it. What I said was perfectly clear. We will pursue every legal and other avenue available to us. But I am not going to sit down and set out in each and individual circumstance precisely how we would deal with it. I don't think that would be productive and what I wish to do is to try and ensure that the circumstance doesn't arise in the first place. By a circumstance I mean a breach of the Joint Declaration. But those options are open to us should we need them.
Question (Don Macintyre): Prime Minister, can I just return to the ethnic minority question for a moment. Who will decide whether these people are under pressure to leave Hong Kong? I mean will the burden of the proof be as it were on the individual as in asylum cases?