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Transcript of the Governor's media session in Wong Tai Sin
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Following is the transcript of the media session by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, after opening the Employment Service Centre for the Elderly in Wong Tai Sin this (Wednesday) morning:
Question: It's looking at a worse case scenario, isn't it Mr Patten? The officials will have to leave the Hong Kong Government service to serve in the post-1997 administration.
Governor: Everybody knows that one of the reasons for Hong Kong's success, one of the reasons for Hong Kong's stability and prosperity, is the quality of our civil service. Its integrity is unquestioned. I'm delighted that despite all the problems of the transition, its morale has remained high, and its political neutrality has been unquestioned, and the civil service is totally committed to the well-being of Hong Kong. Now we wish to do everything possible to protect those qualities and those attributes. And I think that anybody who has Hong Kong's well-being at heart will also want to protect those qualities. We've seen one or two unnamed sources commenting about the Hong Kong civil service. All that I would like to say is that the qualifications for senior officials in the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law are absolutely clear and nobody can change those qualifications. Equally clear is the quality of the civil service as I've described it. And I hope that everybody will make it abundantly plain in the coming weeks and months that they want to see a smooth and successful transition for all our excellent civil servants. That's certainly what we'll be working to do and working to avoid the civil service being dragged into the cockpit of controversy.
Question: If the position of the Chinese side remains unchanged, will dual loyalty be considered understanding that these officials are facing such a dilemma?
Governor: What's the position of the Chinese side? I see leaks which may or may not have to do with things that people said off the record at tea parties. I haven't seen all that much on the record. And I hope that if Chinese officials have things that they want to say to us about the civil service and its well-being, they'll have private and confidential discussions because they should recognise the importance of maintaining the integrity and the morale of the civil service. You can't toy with these things; you can't play with these things. They matter and matter fundamentally to the well-being of Hong Kong. So as far as we are concerned, we have every confidence in the civil service. The civil service works for Hong Kong. It works for Hong Kong before 1997, and it will work for Hong Kong's good and for Hong Kong's interests after 1997. And nobody should question that commitment to Hong Kong and to Hong Kong's well-being.
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