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I hear people talking about the importance of balancing individual aspirations with social order and the community good. We do that in Hong Kong. We do that in Hong Kong a lot more successfully than most other places in the region. What I fear is that if people seek to prevent their fellow citizens expressing their views in a vigorous but peaceful way, if they seek to choke-off political activity, it will produce the sort of social and political problems which they say they want to avoid.
This is a fantastically sophisticated and mature community. It is one of the most successful economies and societies in the world. Is it really our message to the world in 1997 that where everywhere else, almost everywhere else anyway, freedom is being enhanced, in Hong Kong we have got to edge back a bit from the freedoms we enjoy already? I don't think that is the message that Hong Kong should be sending out in 1997.
Question: ... SARCE office...?
Governor: Oh, that is a very, very simple point. We have not changed our views on this issue one iota, but we press for a consultation on this document and I don't want anybody to say that we have stood in the way of that consultation being as extensive as possible. I hope that people will read the document, I hope that they will read our commentary on it, I hope that they will listen to what people are saying, what political leaders are saying, what Mr Suen is saying, what I'm sure Mr Tung will say in due course. And I hope that they will then respond and set out their own views. I want this consultation to be a genuine one. And I repeat, there is no point in going through a consultation if people have made their mind up about the outcome. If the consultation shows what has already been demonstrated, that people don't want these changes in their laws, then I hope that point will be registered very clearly and firmly with the Chinese authorities. Thank you very much indeed.
End
Governor visits Tsuen Wan district
The Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, visited Tsuen Wan district to keep himself abreast of the latest developments in the district today (Wednesday) afternoon.
Accompanied by the Director of Home Affairs, Mrs Shelley Lau; Tsuen Wan District Officer, Mr Gavin Ure; and Tsuen Wan District Board Chairman, Mr Chan Lau-fong, Mr Patten first proceeded to Tsuen Wan Lutheran School. It is a subsidised primary school with about 850 students, including a considerable number of new arrivals.