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Governor: Well, the advice I give them must be advice for their commercial activities in Hong Kong rather than for their commercial activities in China.
And so far as Hong Kong is concerned, we've seen Hong Kong in the last couple of decades move from being a rather closed colonial society to being an open, international city and it's an international city in which the world does business. The world does business here on the basis of a level playing field and a playing field which we are attempting and will continue to attempt to make ever more competitive. That's what we've been trying to do recently in the telecommunications sector, as I mentioned in my speech. It's what we've been trying to do in the transport sector and it's what we're trying to do elsewhere too.
The reason why so many companies establish their regional headquarters here, the reason why so many people invest so much money in Hong Kong, is because they do believe that it's a clean place to do business and a place in which they don't, for example, suffer unfair competition from a regulator. If Hong Kong were to lose that reputation, then it would be appallingly damaging for Hong Kong's continuance as an international business centre, as a magnet for business from around the world. The best way in which Hong Kong can hold on to that position is, as I said in my speech, by vigorously asserting its autonomy, not least in economic matters and if it were to lose that it wouldn't only lose the reputation with business for being an excellent place to base themselves, it would also lose the justification it has at present for having independent membership of so many international organisations. So standing up for Hong Kong's autonomy in economic and trading matters is essential and so long as Hong Kong does that, it'll be able to ensure that it continues to have a level playing field for business.
Question: Governor, one of the prerogatives that people have attending this meeting is that if they don't want to ask a question themselves, they can get through to the adjunct organisation and get someone else to ask it for them. Now this question was actually designed for the previous two speakers, Mr Martin Lee and Mr James Tien, but I don't see why it's not appropriate for you too. Unfortunately, time did not permit them to be asked the question.
The question is, what would be the most effective way of preserving Hong Kong's autonomy and rule of law post 1997 and are you confident that the west and in particular the US, will back Hong Kong and what can be done if China reneges on the 1984 Joint Declaration?
Governor: In two minutes! Well, let me answer as I'm sure James Tien did or would have done and Martin I'm sure would have been much more eloquent than I'm going to be. Martin's in the audience, James isn't!