6.
President: This is not really a point of order is it?
Mr F V M Mkandawire (Malawi): No, it is not. Chairman, you are not asleep.
President: I do not think this seminar is about finding out whether or not CCP really operates in Hong Kong, though it might be public knowledge to some people but could be disputed. This is not the court to find whether certain accusations are correct or incorrect.
A delegate from the United Kingdom: Can I ask Mrs Chan: The Chinese Government freely entered into the agreements that it made with the UK Government over one nation, two systems and the Basic Law, but what depth of understanding do you think actually exists within the Chinese Government about the importance of free and democratic and accountable government in Hong Kong? Because these things can be overruled against their basic interests without necessarily understanding the consequences of different actions.
Also, in response to the question that was raised by the Executive Member - I am sorry, at the other side of the room - where she said she felt that six million people had been abandoned by the UK Government. At this point in time, not looking back at what might have been done yesterday or the day before yesterday, what specifically is the UK Government not doing that it should be doing?
President: Mrs Chan, would you like to respond to that or would you like to take a few more questions before you respond to them?
Chief Secretary: I will respond to the first part of the question. I think that on the second part of the question perhaps Miss Emily Lau would like to elaborate on that. I am bound to say that on the whole I am generally satisfied that the United Kingdom, together with the Hong Kong Government, are doing everything it possibly can to secure and provide the foundation for the implementation of one country, two systems, and Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong. But perhaps more of that later.
On the first part of your question, it is of course true that the political system in China is very different from that in Hong Kong and in our dealings with the Chinese it is not always apparent to us that they totally comprehend and understand the differences, the reasons for the differences, between the political system that exists in China and the political system that exists in Hong Kong. I personally have no doubt that the Chinese leaders are sincere in saying that they intend fully to implement the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. But because their concepts and their values are so very different from ours, I think we sometimes have the feeling that it is a lack of comprehension, a lack of understanding, that results in actions and words which causes concern and which tend to undermine confidence here.