XN000022-1995-12-08 — Page 2

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Transcript of the Governor's media session

Following is the transcript of the remarks by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, after opening the 34th Orient and South East Asian Lions (OSEAL) Forum this (Friday) afternoon:

Governor: I'll say a few words when I'm leaving for the Philippines on Sunday. You would need anything urgent.

Question: Some reports say that the Chairman of the Ilospital Authority, Peter Woo, will the first Executive Head of the SAR Government. Do you think it is suitable for a commercial man to be the ...?

Governor: I can't speculate on that. It is not a decision for me. There are many people in Hong Kong with superb records of public service working in the community who are also distinguished in commercial life. Mr Woo is one of those. He is a very capable, dedicated Chairman of the Hospital Authority. But I really couldn't speculate. I think you would find that there are quite a few names mentioned in the coming weeks and months. I notice that Director Lu whom we are all delighted to see fighting fit, back at work, had said that there were dark horses and there were horses that presumably have more bets riding on them. Well, if you've been to Happy Valley you sometimes know that the dark horse wins and sometimes the favourite wins. So who knows.

Question: So what do you think about Mr Lo Tak Shing has got a Chinese passport?

Governor: That is a matter for him to explain, not for me to speculate about.

Question: Do you expect the British Government to give the visa exemption to the SAR passport holders?

Governor: Well, as you know, what we are trying to do at the moment is to reach an agreement with Chinese officials about the integrity of the SAR passport, not just its security as a document, but the security of issuing the passport. And I think that was a point that was put very clearly in a speech the other day by the distinguished Canadian Commissioner in Hong Kong. I hope that once we've got an agreement with the Chinese authorities, the sort of agreement which would be convincing not just to Britain but to other countries, we can go and talk to ministers in Britain about the importance of visa free access. You know that I've always supported it. But you also know I think that there are some questions about the passport which need to be cleared up first. They are not just questions for Britain. There are obviously going to be questions which will be asked all round the world and it is in everybody's interest, particularly the interest of Hong Kong, that we sort them out.