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And it is of course equally clear that the Joint Liaison Group which is where we consult with China about transition issues until 1 January 2000, will be a natural forum for discussing with Chinese officials just how the Joint Declaration is being implemented. Nobody is talking about the Joint Liaison Group having a supervisory role. That is specifically ruled out in the Joint Declaration, Annex II of which sets out in detail what the JLG's responsibilities are. But clearly, as part of the monitoring of the implementation of the Joint Declaration, British officials would wish, in the Joint Liaison Group, to raise any matters which they thought meant that the Joint Declaration was not being implemented faithfully.
I would only want to add that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have underlined Britain's determination to continue monitoring the implementation of the Joint Declaration. And the Foreign Secretary, of course, announced before Christmas that Britain will be tabling, every six months, a report to Parliament on the implementation of the Joint Declaration so that Parliament can consider what is happening and those reports will also be made available to the UN bodies at Geneva so that they can see the view of the British Government on the implementation of the JD.
I just set those points out in some detail because there has been some confusion about them in the last few days.
Reporter: Mr Patten, you seem to have increasing doubts with three months to go about China's willingness to live by the agreement, by the spirit or the letter of it. You are expressing increasing doubts are you not?
Governor: No, I am reacting to some statements which I think surprised many people, including members of the Legislative Council yesterday, which appeared to suggest that China was saying that Britain had no monitoring role after 1 July 1997.
As for optimism in the future, I think that there is very strong reason to be broadly-speaking optimistic about Hong Kong's future success, but there is no doubt that one or two of the decisions that have been taken in recent months have caused people here and people elsewhere considerable concern about Hong Kong's political and economic freedoms. And I will, as others will, continue to speak out on those issues.
Reporter: But Li Peng actually put it quite bluntly didn't he? He said it's none of your business; it's none of London's business what happens here after 31 June.