+
- 1.
SARCE should consider community views
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Mr Nicholas Ng, at the motion debate on the policy on people's livelihood for new Hong Kong after 1997 in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Mr President,
During the motion debate moved by the Hon LEE Cheuk-yan on 13 November, I have explained clearly the position of the Hong Kong Government on the election of the first SAR Chief Executive. I do not intend to repeat it in detail here. But let me re-state a couple of fundamental points.
First, the Hon Fred LI mentioned in his motion the election of the Chief Executive through universal franchise. The method for selecting the first and subsequent Chief Executives is prescribed in the Basic Law and the National People's Congress Decision of 4 April 1990. Implementation of these provisions will be the responsibility of the Chinese side and the future SAR Government. I would, therefore, only ask Members to note a point of fact here: Article 45 of the Basic Law provides that "The method for selecting the Chief Executive shall be specified in the light of the actual situation in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and in accordance with the principle of gradual and orderly progress. The ultimate aim is the selection of the Chief Executive by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures."
Second, as the first Chief Executive will be playing a very important role in the establishment of the SAR and SAR Government, it is perfectly natural that the community is concerned about the platforms of the candidates. We fully share the community's expectation that the Chief Executive should be able to command respect and confidence both locally and internationally, and be acceptable to the people of Hong Kong. We sincerely hope that, in developing the policy directions of the Special Administrative Region Government, the Chief Executive will fully take into account the views and aspirations of the community.
End