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Mr Cheung Man-kwong (in Chinese): Mr Governor, now I agree fully with what our Chairman of House Committee, Dr C H Leong, said, that is you have put in great effort on Mr Au and Mr Wong's case. You have fulfilled your duty as the Governor of Hong Kong but the Au and Wong case leads us to think about Mr Xi Yang's case.
Mr Governor, when you were in London did you take up this matter with the Prime Minister, Mr John Major? The Ming Pao journalist Mr Xi Yang is detained in Beijing and have you taken up that case and what are the Hong Kong and British press Governments doing to secure the release of Mr Xi Yang? As we know from reports Mr Xi Yang is now ill and he has not seen the sun for ages so we are very sad to hear that. I wonder if the Hong Kong and British Governments will formally request the Chinese Government to release Mr Xi Yang on bail because of his ill health?
Governor: If I can, without breaching the rules of order, just apologise if I was in any way responsible for an earlier breach. I have on previous occasions, occasionally It doesn't answered questions which weren't actually on the list in front of us. necessarily mean that I'll always do it if people are flattering and kind to me but that does actually help. Should I resume a political career in the future I'll know where to turn for assistance.
On the sad case that the honourable member has mentioned, I can assure the honourable member that I always discuss that particular and related issues when I return to London. It wasn't actually on the agenda of my meeting with the Prime Minister but we did during the course of other discussions touch on it. The honourable gentleman will know the slightly more limited capacity for intervention where one is talking about somebody with resident's status rather than citizenship or a passport but we have at meetings between senior British Ministers and senior Chinese officials raised the case continually and will continue to do so. I think that it's a case which concerns everyone in Hong Kong in the same way perhaps as the case of Mr Au and Mr Wong did. There is a difference in what one is able to do in the two different cases but I appreciate that concerns will continue to be expressed, particularly if Mr Xi Yang is not in good health.
Mr Cheung Man-kwong (in Chinese): Mr Governor, tonight the Chief Secretary Mrs Anson Chan will be meeting with Director Lu Ping. So I wonder if you are aware of this Mr Governor? Would the Chief Secretary raise the Xi Yang case at tonight's meeting to secure the release of Mr Xi Yang? If the Governor is not aware of that, would you at least convey my view, that is in tonight's meeting the Xi Yang case should be raised?