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So legislation isn't required before July 1, and if legislation is put through by the provisional legislature, then it's a pound to a penny that that will attract legal challenges after July 1. In those circumstances, we made what I note one newspaper called a generous compromise offer, that we would provide a blue bill that would attempt to give the community even greater certainty than exists already and that the legislature of the day would legislate on that from July 1. That was the generous compromise that we put. It's still on the table. I very much hope it will be taken up.
I just want to underline one point. We don't want unnecessary arguments at this stage in the transition but for us there is one fundamental principle which we are not going to move away from and that is that the spine of this society, that what distinguishes this society more than anything else is the rule of law and we are not going to do anything now or in the future which in our judgement undermines or calls into question the rule of law.
Mr Ip Kwok-him (in Chinese): Mr President, having heard from the Governor 1 feel shocked again. So now I know that concerning the white bill and the failure of the Chinese and British Governments to provide Hong Kong people with certainty, you feel that that is because the Chinese side is trying to give credibility and legality to provisional legislature and so you think that is the objective of the Chinese side and as a result of that, a very pressing problem for Hong Kong's public and a problem that Legislative Councillors feel should be solved very very quickly, is now not being solved and you said that there was not going to be a white bill and there was not going to be a blue bill and you said that maybe there is a possibility that in the end a blue bill could be offered. So are you trying to stall things? Are you trying to shirk your responsibility? You also said that legislation wasn't essential before July 1, and you said that this could be solved by administrative measures. If that had been the case you wouldn't have to, or the LegCo panel wouldn't have to discuss this.
So I would like to ask you this Mr Governor, is it possible for you to, in accordance with your original thinking, come up with a white bill in order to consult members of the public so that members of the public know for sure what's going on? Maybe you think that this is not a big problem but for Hong Kong people, especially those who are living overseas and those who hold foreign nationality and foreign passports would dearly love to know more and a lot of members of the public are raising this and they want more clarity, they want more certainty and they want legislation so that they know what they are going to do.
Governor: I answered the honourable gentleman's question extremely fully. I don't think that he has raised any additional points that I did not cover in my first answer in what he has just said, but I am sure that if he reads my answer afterwards, he will find it contains all the information necessary to answer his second group of questions which appear to me to be identical to the first lot.