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Transcript of Governor's media session
Following is the transcript of the media session by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Pattan, after attending the foundation laying ceremony of the Hong Kong Institute of Education Tai Po Campus this (Tuesday) afternoon:
Question: Governor, Mr Lu Ping said that if he met with you in the handover Are you ceremony, he would shake hands with you and said farewell to you. delighted to hear about this? And do you think that that means the Chinese side now welcome you to join in the handover ceremony?
Governor: That's never been an issue.
Question: Are you delighted that he would shake hands with you and say farewell with you?
Governor: Well, I can't imagine any circumstances in which he wouldn't. I don't think there's anybody who I haven't been prepared to shake hands with. Director Lu Ping is a civilised man and I'm sure if he met me he'd shake hands with me just as he would with anybody else. So all you're saying is that he would behave in those circumstances with the courtesy that I would behave. So I don't regard that as a special breakthrough.
Question: Lu Ping has denied that China is frightened at the speeding up of democracy in Hong Kong, though no democrats had been put on the Preparatory Committee. So what can China do ...?
Governor: The best thing they could do would be to announce that they intended to work with the present Legislative Council. The second best thing they could do would be to announce that they were prepared to enter into a dialogue with the democrats, who represent between 60 and 70 per cent of opinion in Hong Kong according to the opinion polls and the elections. Those would both be very welcome steps forward. They'll be tremendously welcomed in the community. They'll be welcomed internationally as well. And I think that it wouldn't then just be a question of everybody wanting to shake Director Lu's hand, everybody would want to throw their hats in the air.
Question: Governor, Lu Ping said the first legislation would likely begin at the end of the 1998. If that's the case, that means the provisional legislature will run as long as two years. You see any problem with that?