XN000022-1995-10-12 — Page 12

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President: Mr Cheng Yiu-tong.

Mr Cheng Yiu-tong (in Chinese): Thank you Mr President. Mr Governor, you say that you will continue to invite Mr Lu Ping to come to Hong Kong as your guest. My question is, should he come, does that mean that on the question of Hong Kong the Chinese Government and the British Government are re-establishing all links? And if he doesn't come, does that mean that there are still obstacles?

Governor: First of all, can I say that I hope Director Lu Ping is wholly fit to travel and to take up his full responsibilities as soon as possible. He hasn't been well recently; we all understand that he is making a good recovery and in all sincerity, I wish him the best possible recovery as soon as possible.

Let me not, necessarily, personalise the issue, though I repeat again that I would be delighted to meet Director Lu anywhere - pretty well anywhere - anytime, and I think that that would be widely welcomed here in Hong Kong. Why? Well, for a simple reason: people in Hong Kong look at what is happening around the world and they see officials from every community, from every country whatever the disagreements there may have been, talking to one another, and they scratch their heads and they puzzle about why it is that certain senior Chinese cadres find it so difficult to do what officials everywhere else in the world do.. It is, I think, a matter of some confusion to the public, not only in Hong Kong but well beyond. I don't think that anybody should be worried about losing face by meeting the Governor of Hong Kong. Those Chinese officials know perfectly well where decisions are still generated about Hong Kong's Administration and Hong Kong's Government, so I really think that we should behave rather more sensibly. I think to go on behaving as some people have been behaving is, frankly, rather demeaning.

President: Mr Cheng.

Mr Cheng Yiu-tong (in Chinese): Could you, Mr Governor, use your charisma to charm him here?

Governor: The Honourable member is much too flattering. I sometimes think that it would be, perhaps, easier and more convenient for many of us in politics if we had, at an earlier stage in our careers, a charisma bypass. I'd use any wiles or eloquence to persuade Director Lu and other senior Chinese officials to come to Hong Kong. I think that it's a matter of some concern that some senior Chinese officials who are involved in policy making about Hong Kong don't actually know this community very well, haven't been to this community at all in some cases, and I think that's something that we should all want to correct.