XN000022-1994-01-18 — Page 7

6

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 1994

QUESTION: IS THE LATEST NUMBER SAID BY ICAC ALARMING?

GOVERNOR: I THINK THE LATEST NUMBERS WHICH I REPEAT WERE FOR REPORTS

THE CORRUPTION, NOT ONLY ALARMED THE ICAC, BUT ALARMED

COMMUNITY AND I SHARË THE COMMUNITY'S WORRY.

OF

QUESTION: GOVERNOR, WHEN YOU FIRST CAME TO HONG KONG AND ON MANY OCCASIONS YOU MADE THE POINT THAT IT'S BETTER TO SOLVE PROBLEMS SOONER RATHER THAN LATER TO GIVE MORE TIME, MORE FLEXIBILITY, YET A NUMBER OF THINGS STILL TO BE HAPPENING LATER RATHER THAN SOONER, THE BILL IN LEGCO BEING ONE OF THEM. ARE YOU BEING FORCED BY CHINESE OR BY CIRCUMSTANCES TO ABANDON YOUR EARLIER APPROACH?

GOVERNOR: I THINK THAT THE WHOLE COMMUNITY WOULD LIKE THE ARGUMENTS ABOUT POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT TO HAVE BEEN BEHIND US BY NOW. I WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE LIKED THAT TO HAVE HAPPENED. MAYBE IF WE'VE BEEN ABLE ΤΟ

START DISCUSSIONS WHEN I SUGGESTED THEM IN THE AUTUMN OF 1992, IT WOULD HAVE HELPED US TO RESOLVE THESE MATTERS MORE RAPIDLY. I THINK WE'VE LEANT OVER BACKWARDS TO BORROW A PHRASE, TO SHOW HOW REASONABLE WE ARE TO TRY TO SECURE PROGRESS THROUGH AGREEMENT. THAT'S INEVITABLY TAKEN TIME BUT IT CAN'T TAKE INFINITY, WHICH IS WHY IN A MEASURED ORDERLY WAY WE'VE TAKEN THESE LEGISLATIVE MEASURES AND WHY WE'LL HAVE TO TAKE OTHERS IN DUE COURSE. BUT, I THINK THAT EVERYBODY RECOGNISES THAT WE'VE GOT TO GET THIS MATTER RESOLVED DURING THE COURSE OF THE SPRING AND SUMMER.

QUESTION:

AND

YOU HAVEN'T EXACTLY ANSWER THE QUESTION. HAVE YOU HAD TO MODIFY YOUR ORIGINAL APPROACH, YOUR DESIRE TO GET THINGS DONE SOONER RATHER THAN LATER. AND POINT TWO, RELATING TO JONATHAN'S POINT THAT WE DON'T GET INFORMATION WE CAN'T FIND OUT WHEN THE DEADLINE IS FOR THE MINI-BILL, FOR THE WHOLE BILL, FOR ANYTHING WHICH JUST KEEP COMING UP AND WE'LL NEVER GET INFORMATION.

GOVERNOR: BUT YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL THAT WHILE IT'S EXTREMELY CONVENIENT FOR YOU TO HAVE A DATE SO THAT YOU CAN PAINT CHINESE OFFICIALS OR HONG KONG GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS INTO A CORNER, IT'S NOT REMOTELY IN OUR INTEREST TO LET YOU DO SO. I MEAN, I ADMIRE YOUR JOURNALISTIC SPECULATION BUT THERE'S NO REASON AT ALL WHY I SHOULD MAKE LIFE MORE DIFFICULT FOR RESOLVING THESE MATTERS AND MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE COMMUNITY IN ORDER TO GIVE YOU A HEADLINE WHICH WOULDN'T FRANKLY LAST VERY LONG BUT WE GIVE AS MUCH INFORMATION AS WE CAN, GIVEN THAT OUR OVERALL OBJECTIVE IS, IF POSSIBLE, то REACH AGREEMENT, NOT ONLY ON POLITICAL MATTERS BUT ON OTHER MATTERS AS WELL. AND I REPEAT WHAT I SAID EARLIER TO JONATHAN, I HAVEN'T NOTICED THAT THIS WAS AN INFORMATION STARVED COMMUNITY.

QUESTION: WHEN YOU CONSIDERED TO PUT THE REST OF THE PROPOSAL TO LEGCO ARE BASED ON WHAT CRITERIA YOU WILL PUT THE ORIGINAL ONE OR AMENDED ONE?

THE

THE

/GOVERNOR: