Question: Governor, for German Television. What would you tell people who really worry about their future and think about emigrating and leaving Hong Kong? What do you tell these people, for example some of your friends who you've probably made here since you are here?
Governor: What I tell them is this. When others talk about Hong Kong, when others speculate about Hong Kong's future, they very often it seems to me do so as though the people who've made Hong Kong's success don't exist. They talk about Hong Kong as though it was hit by a neutron bomb, as though the six million people who live here, who've made this extraordinarily special and successful community simply were to be disregarded. I think that the main reason for being optimistic about Hong Kong's future is the six million people who live in Hong Kong, who've made it with no natural advantages one of the greatest cities in the world and will, I believe, continue to stand up for the things that have made Hong Kong successful in the future. Let me add just a couple of things. Sometimes people say that in Hong Kong people don't care all that much about human rights for instance. The majority of people in Hong Kong are here because of human rights. Two-thirds to three-quarters of people in Hong Kong are themselves refugees or the family of refugees. They know what the rule of law means, and they know what life is like without the rule of law. And they know that they can make a difference to the maintenance of Hong Kong's freedoms and values by speaking up for them, by standing up for them. Second thing I would say is that we have in Hong Kong not just the spectacularly successful economy but we have all the institutions of what political scientists call civil society. There is a commitment to those to professions, to churches, to independent courts, to non-governmental there is a commitment to those organisations, to political parties, to free newspapers things. And I believe that they'll survive provided that people want them to survive. What I can't do is to act as a character witness for China. What I can do is speak out as a character witness for the extraordinary qualities of people in Hong Kong.
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Question: Will these people stand up and speak up after the take-over ...?
Governor: Well, you are not going to find in Hong Kong that at mid-night on the 30th of June next year, as a press statement pointed out yesterday, the Monday after the Queen's birthday, you are not going to find out, you are not going to find that at mid- night that night suddenly people are transformed, they become something else, that their concern about civil liberties, about having a share in the governance of this society is going to be snuffed out. They're going to be the same people, the same successful, brave, resilient people after the first of July as they are today.
Question: Would you please comment on Chairman Andrew Wong's decision that the last meeting on Legislative Council will be closed on the 25th of June next year?