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Transcript of the Governor's media session
Following is the transcript of the media session given by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, at the Kai Tak Airport on his return from London this (Friday) evening:
Governor: Sorry to keep you waiting. I just had to do a quick change because I am going off to a Police Beating the Retreat.
I have had a very good, if extremely rushed, visit to Europe. It began on Monday with a speech I made about Hong Kong and Asia to the Confederation of British Industry Conference in Harrogate; then I went to Paris to make a speech and to have high-level meetings with officials, including the Foreign Minister and the President of the Senate; and I then went on to Bonn where again I made a speech, met the Chancellor, the Foreign Minister, the Vice Minister at the Interior Ministry, and a number of Parliamentarians.
While I was, of course, setting out the case for rational optimism about the future of Hong Kong, what I was also doing in particular was pressing on France and Germany - which are of course two of the biggest and most important players in the European Union - the case for visa-free access for people from Hong Kong after 1997. And I was pressing, in particular, that the European Union should leave it to individual member states to decide what to do about SAR passport holders, rather than add SAR passports to what is called the Common Visa List, which would in effect be an attempt to get all of the European Union countries to insist on a visa. That is something that I have argued strongly against, pointing out what a very bad signal it would send to everybody in Hong Kong about Europe's future relationship with Hong Kong,
I received a very courteous and friendly hearing at the highest level and I think it was important to be able to register these strong arguments with Chancellor Kohl and with the two Foreign Ministers.
Question: Mr Patten, Qian Qichen this morning said the selection process for the Chief Executive does not mean the end of democracy but the beginning of democracy as the British Government has never consulted the opinions of Hong Kong people over the selection of a governor. So what do you think on this? And Qian Qichen and Lu Ping, they are now in town, would you manage to meet them tonight? If not, are you disappointed?