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Civil service crucial to Hong Kong's success
The Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, said the clean, fair and business-friendly government culture together with the loyalty of the civil service to Hong Kong is the foundation of the territory's success and the real basis for optimism about its future.
Speaking at the business luncheon in New York on Wednesday (New York time), Mrs Chan said she and her civil service colleagues were 100 per cent determined that this government culture would not change.
future.
She said the civil service was crucial to Hong Kong's success now and in the
"It is the main reason why we have built one of the world's richest societies in a place with no natural resources.
"We do not interfere with business. You can compete in Hong Kong on equal terms with everyone else, whether you are American, Chinese, British or Greek.
"Our regulations are simply and fairly applied. We do not take bribes. And we do not tilt the table for political or for any other ulterior reasons," she said.
She said none of the work Hong Kong had done since 1984, the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, to secure its future would matter much if that government culture changed.
Responding to recent press reports about civil service loyalty, the Chief Secretary said civil servants were working for Hong Kong and would remain loyal to Hong Kong.
"Chinese leaders fully accept this and have confirmed that they expect Hong Kong civil servants to remain dedicated to serving the people of Hong Kong," she said.
"At the same time we consider ourselves to be Chinese. I am quite typical of my civil service colleagues in being proud to be Chinese and in wanting to contribute to China's emergence as a vibrant, modern nation.
"I am equally typical in being fiercely loyal to Hong Kong and to the Hong Kong culture, which has provided me and my family with freedom and opportunity."
Freedom and opportunity were not things which, once attained, can be quietly extinguished, she said.