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Governor's statement on C H Tung's resignation from ExCo
The Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, issued the following press statement this (Monday) afternoon in response to Mr C H Tung's decision to resign from the Executive Council:
"As I told the Legislative Council in February, I discussed Mr C H Tung's position on the Executive Council with him some months ago when he was appointed to the Preparatory Committee. I told him then that I would be delighted for him to stay on ExCo and that I had always greatly valued his advice.
"But he and I recognised that, at some point, he might find that the tensions between his two roles became too difficult to reconcile. I made clear that this would be very much a matter for him to decide, if and when that time arrived.
"Clearly that point has now come. Mr Tung has asked to step down from ExCo. I have accepted his resignation with regret but also with considerable gratitude for the valuable role he has played on the Council, and for the community, over the past three and a half years."
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Governor's letter to C H Tung
Following is the letter from the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, to Mr CH Tung, today (Monday):
Thank you for your letter of today's date.
When we talked earlier this year, I said that I hoped that you would stay on the Executive Council for as long as you felt able to do so. As you know, I have always valued and respected your advice even, indeed particularly, when our views differed, since you always gave that advice honestly, impartially and in the interests of Hong Kong. But we both recognised that a point might come when you felt that the tensions between your appointment as Vice-Chairman of the Preparatory Committee and your place on ExCo became too great.