- 2 -
Question: But according to Michael Suen, he said that this is the reality that we must change the law. So what will the British Government do?
Governor: It is only the reality if you accept that with no justification whatsoever, the NPC can simply lay down the rules for Hong Kong; that we have no right to question why they are doing this. I repeat, they have at no stage pointed out in what ways Hong Kong's laws are in contravention of the Basic Law. They have never, ever done that.
Now the NPC is an important body. But the NPC is not Moses bringing the Tablets down from the top of the mountain. And if it is the case that as a result of this consultation people make it clear that they don't want a change in the law, then I hope the SAR Government-to-be will make that point to the NPC and to Peking. It is not enough to say, "We've got to do this because we've got to do this". It is a completely circular argument. If anybody, if any legal opinion could be produced to show that our existing laws contravene the Basic Law, then there might be an argument for change. But that has not been demonstrated and cannot be demonstrated.
Question: Concerning about the overseas funding, do you think it is a kind of restriction for the local party to survive because they don't have any funds to struggle for anything?
Governor: Well, one is aware, not least from looking at what happens in the United States, that apparently, foreign funding of political parties is something that happens in a lot of countries. But I don't want to get drawn into the detail of that argument at this stage. I notice that a lot of rather difficult questions have been asked about what exactly this would mean and how these rules could be applied. I don't actually think that the question of foreign influence on the political process in Hong Kong is terribly relevant to our lives here. We have vigorous, responsible political debate in Hong Kong; our own political parties jostling for position doing so in a much more moderate way than happens in other communities.
And that is something else that we have to remember when we consider these issues. When you go around Hong Kong do you get the impression that this is a community on the brink of social breakdown or chaos? Do you get the impression that the changes that have been made in our laws over the last few years have in some way undermined our stability or our prosperity? We have gone on getting more prosperous, we have remained an immensely stable society.
People talk about the increase in the number of demonstrations. There has been an increase in the number of demonstrations but they have been overwhelmingly peaceful, like the demonstrations you see today. Overwhelmingly peaceful, and they have been accompanied over the years by a fall in the level of crime in Hong Kong. There is less crime in Hong Kong today than there was in 1984 when the Joint Declaration was signed. So nobody can say that we have got to make these changes in the laws in order to hang on to our stability in this society.