XN000022-1995-12-14 — Page 32

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Governor: Let me repeat what I said at the Palace this morning after my meeting with the President. I said to the President that there was only one shadow over our relationship and that was the great degree of concern in Hong Kong about the case of two Hong Kong citizens, Mr Au and Mr Wong, who have been in prison since 1991, and whose appeal has been waiting adjudication since 1993. I said that no one in Hong Kong wanted to challenge the Judiciary in the Philippines or interfere in the judicial process, but that we did feel very strongly about the amount of time that Mr Au and Mr Wong had had to await the consideration of their appeal.

I noted that the Government here felt very strongly about the treatment and the welfare of Filipinos when they were abroad, and nobody should therefore be very surprised when we, the Administration, our Legislative Council, our media and the whole community felt just as strongly about the position of our citizens when they were in other countries. I said that I hoped that the appeal process could be expedited. The President said that he would speak to the Justice Ministry about the issue, that he would let me know the outcome. He understood our concern and he recognised my interest, and I said that that interest was not merely something for a Monday in December when I was visiting the Philippines, it was something that I intended to continue to pursue, if necessary, though I hope that won't prove necessary.

I said to the President that I spoke as I did because I thought that it was better between friends to say these things absolutely clearly and plainly. We are friends. But when there is a problem like this that concerns us, it is right for us to address it as I did this morning. And I hope it can be resolved very quickly.

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Question: Didn't you ask because President Ramos is, after all, the for a pardon - didn't you ask for a pardon for Mr Au? And since we are in the area of prisoners, there are 12 Filipinos in Hong Kong and they are serving long sentences; did President Ramos say anything about repatriating the Filipinos to the Philippines?

Governor: The answer to the second question is no. The answer to the first question is, it would have been wholly improper of me, without consultation, to have proposed that two citizens of Hong Kong should drop appeals which they have lodged in good faith. That is entirely a matter for them and it would have been entirely improper for me to have usurped their position or that of their lawyers. When government leaders make interventions, as I have done, you have to be extremely careful of the ground on which you do so; you have to be extremely careful to honour the sovereignty and the judicial independence of the country in which you are speaking - and that is something recognise. And above all, you have to be very, very careful not in order to make what sounds like a sharp point to make the position of the people on whose behalf you are intervening worse than it would otherwise have been.

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