XN000022-1996-01-11 — Page 14

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Speaker: Of course the Preparatory Committee has just been appointed and the Election Committee has not yet been formed. Of course sooner or later we will have the Chief Executive Designate but we don't know who that person is yet. However, an interesting point arises: in your latest Policy Address at page 137 you have already said that we, meaning the British Government, have initially considered the methods or formats by which we can provide assistance to the designate. In other words, you have already considered the initial format of assistance. What formats are you talking about?

Governor: First of all just on one correction, the we in that case doesn't refer to the British Government it refers to the Hong Kong Government which I lead. The sort of practical things that one is talking about: our administrative and staff support, our logistical support. Those are things which I know that everybody in Hong Kong will expect us to provide for the Chief Executive Designate. The Chief Executive of Hong Kong will have just as difficult a job to do as the last British Governor of Hong Kong and I think that just as I do appreciate all the help I get, so the Chief Executive will appreciate all the help that she or he can receive.

Governing Hong Kong is, by common consent, one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Not because people in Hong Kong are difficult, not because this isn't a successful community, but for I suppose political and strategic and historical reasons, and it's particularly difficult at this point in our history when we're on a sort of high- wire between two historical points. So I think everybody would expect the Governor and the Chief Executive to lean over backwards to be co-operative and to help one another and that is what I intend to do.

Speaker: Facing '97 we have a lot of issues to deal with. A lot of people say a glorious retreat is one of the most important considerations for Britain in handing over sovereignty. As the representative of Britain in Hong Kong, how do you see this problem?

Governor: Well, I don't think that glorious retreat is the way that a British politician or public servant would see it. I'm not sure that the concept of face is tremendously important to somebody like me. What does matter isn't glorious retreat --

Speaker: You could lose face?

Governor: Sorry?

Speaker: You mean you can lose face?