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Transcript of Governor's media session
Following is the transcript of the media session given by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, at the LegCo Building this (Sunday) afternoon:
I thought I would save you the trek to Kai Tak again by saying something about my trip at lunch-time and giving you the opportunity to ask any questions.
I am away until Friday. I am going to the United Kingdom for a day to address the Confederation of British Industry Annual Conference on Asia and Hong Kong, then I am going to Paris for about 24 hours and Bonn for about 24 hours, before flying back from Germany on Thursday.
The main purpose of my visit is to go to Paris and Bonn, albeit extremely briefly. I will be meeting Chancellor Kohl, the French and German Foreign Ministers, and other political leaders in both countries. I am also making speeches to two think- tanks, one in Paris and one - the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung or Academy, in Bonn.
What I will be doing, obviously, is briefing people on the latest state of play in the transition. I will be encouraging them to recognise that the European Union has a considerable stake in a successful transition here in Hong Kong. But above all, I will be pressing them to ensure that there is the easiest possible access for people with passports from Hong Kong to travel after 1997.
Now that raises, in particular, the question of SAR passport holders. I think that the main issue there as far as France and Germany are concerned. is to try to ensure that the question of entry by SAR passport holders to member states of the European Union is a matter for national decision and that the SAR passport is not placed on what is called the Common Visa List which would mean that there was then no distinction between the SAR passport and the PRC passport.
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It is an extremely important matter for us to ensure that individual countries can make up their own minds as Britain has done rather than have a European Union- wide decision which would be against our interests. So I will be making that point extremely strongly in France and Germany. Both those are countries which at present have very tough visa regimes and I think that whether you are talking about somebody travelling with a BNO passport or somebody travelling with an SAR passport, it is quite difficult to imagine them changing their overall regime but it will be a success if we can persuade them that the SAR passport should not - repeat not be placed on the Common Visa List.
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