XN000022-1994-10-20 — Page 2

- 1

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1994

TRANSCRIPT OF THE GOVERNOR'S MEDIA. SESSION

*

THE FOLLOWING IS THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEDIA. SESSION BY THE SAI KUNG GOVERNOR, THE RT HON CHRISTOPHER PATTEN, AFTER VISITING THE DISTRICT TODAY (THURSDAY):

A

THAT REGULAR THE

GOVERNOR : GOOD AFTERNOON. NICE TO BE IN SAI KUNG AGAIN, ESPECIALLY ON

DAY BEAUTIFUL

LIKE THIS. I'VE BEEN PARTICULARLY PLEASED MARGARET THATCHER HAS BEEN ABLE TO JOIN ME TODAY. SHE IS A VISITOR TO HONG KONG, ONE OF HONG KONG'S BEST FRIENDS AND ONE OF ARCHITECTS, AS YOU KNOW, OF OUR STABILITY AND OUR PROSPERITY. 80, SHE SHE'LL ALWAYS BE À VERY WELCOMED GUEST HERE. I THINK, AS YOU KNOW, IS MAKING A SPEECH TOMORROW EVENING WHICH, I DARE SAY, MANY OF

BE COVERING WHEN SHE WILL BE MAKING, I WILL

THINK, SOME REMARKS ABOUT HONG KONG AND ABOUT ASIA AS A WHOLE.

WAS

ARE

-

YOU

GENERAL

PUBLIC

CAR-

I'D

JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT THE LAST TIME I WAS IN SAI KUNG, I

HARD PRESSED VERY

ON THE

HEALTH IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPING FACILITIES IN TSEUNG KWAN O AND I WAS PLEASED

POLICY THAT IN MY WE WERE ABle ADDRESS,

TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE

GOING AHEAD WITH BUILDING THE NEW HOSPITAL AT TSEUNG KWAN 0 TODAY, A NUMBER OF EQUALLY IMPORTANT SUBJECTS WERE RAISED, CONNECTING, FOR EXAMPLE, TSEUNG KWAN O

THE WITH

BETTER MAIN URBAN AREA. PEOPLE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT

LIKE THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY CONCERNED ABOUT ISSUES TRANSPORTATION.

AS PARKING

MORE PEOPLE COME TO SAI KUNG FOR THEIR RECREATION BEEN INCLUDING, I AM SURE, A NUMBER OF YOU AT THE WEEKENDS. SO, WE'VE DISCUSSING THOSE ISSUES AND WE WILL WANT TO WORK CLOSELY WITH THE DISTRICT BOARD HERE IN TACKLING THEM IN THE MONTHS AND YEARS AHEAD.

MR QUESTION:

REPORT PATTEN, DO YOU THINK IF CHINESE REFUSAL TO HONG KONG HUMAN RIGHT SITUATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS IS A BREACH THE JOINT DECLARATION?

THE OF

ARE NATIONS AND I

BE

GOVERNOR: WE'VE SET OUT CLEARLY AND NOT PROVOCATIVELY OUR VIEWS ON THE MEANING OF THE JOINT DECLARATION. WE ARE REQUIRED TO DO THAT. WE

UNITED TO DO THAT BECAUSE WE HAVE TO REPORT TO THE REQUIRED AND WILL BE DOING THAT NEXT IN GENEVA AT THE END OF NOVEMBER. THINK THAT A NUMBER OF COMMUNITY GROUPS FROM HERE IN HONG KONG WILL BE GOING TO ATTEND THOSE SESSIONS AT WHICH WE GIVE BVIDENCE, WE WILL ASKED AT THOSE SESSIONS OUR VIEWS ON THE REPORTING OBLIGATIONS WE'LL SAY WHAT WE'VE SAID ALL ALONG. WHAT WE'VE SAID, FOR EXAMPLE,

THAT WE

1992. GAVE CHINESE OFFICIALS IN

THE A PAPER

WE'VE MADE POSITION PLAIN AND IT'S FOR CHINESE OFFICIALS TO SAY IF THEY DISAGREE WITH THAT.

QUESTION:

AND

IN

YOUR POLICY

BEST SPEECH DIDN'T GET THE

RECEPTION FROM LEGISLATORS. DO YOU SEE THIS AS A LACK OF CONFIDENCE FOR THE COMING YEAR AND YOU FEEL LIKE THAT YOU ARE GOING TO RUN INTO DIFFICULTY PASSING SOME OF YOUR PROPOSED POLICIES?

IN

/GOVERNOR: