10
I was also pleased to see the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the MITI (Minister for International Trade and Industry), the Finance Minister and three former Prime Ministers, the leader of the main opposition party and a number of other members of the Diet at what was a busy time for them because it's the beginning of a new Diet session.
I think the most important and substantial thing to come out of those meetings was the commitment from the Prime Minister, Mr Hashimoto and from the Foreign Minister, that the SAR passport after 1997, will be treated differently from and better than the PRC passport. And what we're of course very keen to establish is that there should be multiple-entry visas if possible for the SAR passport, that it should be treated as well as the BDTC or BN(O) passport. The Japanese Government haven't quite made up their mind on that, but they were able to give us the basic assurance we wanted that they would make a proper distinction between the SAR passport and the PRC passport. As you know, that was our objective with the Japanese Government. There was never any chance of them giving visa-free access because they don't really do that for anybody very much. They don't do it at the moment for BDTC passports but making that distinction between our own integrity as a passport issuing administration and the position in China is an important one for us to have established.
Question: Governor, the CE designate is going to be elected later this month, have the Hong Kong Government identified any office spaces to him, or are there any Government officials being seconded to help him in the formulation Government?
of the SAR
Governor: As I'm reported as saying, I think in some of this morning's newspapers, we've of course made preparations for the arrival of a Chief Executive designate. We've identified office space and we've started to think about personnel. But those aren't as it were decisions that we wish to try to impose in any way. We've got some ideas that we will want to discuss with the Chief Executive designate who will doubtless have his own ideas as well. We've put ourselves in a position where we can help as constructively and positively as possible but the Chief Executive designate will, I'm sure, have some views which he'll want to share with us as well.
Question: In the question and answer session between CE candidates held last week, Director Lu Ping described this as a step towards democracy. Do you think this kind of activity will help the selection process more open and transparent?
Governor: I think it would be the greatest step forward towards real and lasting democracy in Hong Kong if Director Lu Ping was to accept the outcome of the Legislative Council elections in the autumn of last year.