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Governor: Let me follow what the honourable gentleman said. I would guess that the honourable gentleman, like me, has yet to hear from anyone who is supporting what he described as the emasculation of our civil liberties legislation, has yet to hear a single rational description of in what way our civil liberties legislation breaches the Basic Law. All that we hear is that the Bills are going to be changed because of Article 160 in the Basic Law which is the Article which says that Bills can be changed if they are not in line with the Basic Law. I mean it is a completely circular argument, it is like a cat chasing its own tail. I think that was the point made by the Chairman of the Bar Association.
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Why is it why is it that these laws are going to be changed? Not a single argument about them being in contravention of the Basic Law. But a lot of implied concern that somehow they will bring about social chaos and instability in Hong Kong. We have had these Bills and where is the social chaos.
I looked up, before today, the figures for marches and demonstrations in Hong Kong and it is perfectly true that as Hong Kong has become a more open, more plural society, as it has developed a civic consciousness, so there have been more marches and demonstrations. The figures increased very substantially over the last decade. At the same time, our economy has doubled in size and crime has fallen, so nobody can say that allowing people to demonstrate, allowing people to let off steam is bad for our economy or that it is bad for social order. The fact of the matter is that if you try to stop people using safety-valves, the steam will come out in other ways, and in ways which do lead to social disharmony.
The United Kingdom has made it clear that the report that will go to Parliament every six months on the implementation of the Joint Declaration, will be made available to the treaty-watching bodies in Geneva so that even if there isn't proper reporting from Hong Kong, at least there is some focus for Geneva's consideration of what is actually happening in this territory.
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