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Transcript of the Governor

Following is the transcript of the media session by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, after the Executive Council meeting this (Tuesday) morning:

Governor: Good morning. I'm obviously delighted that the Prime Minister had such a successful visit to Hong Kong and, from his point of view, I think he found the visit both very useful and extremely enjoyable. It was a successful visit above all because I think it gave all of us in the community a considerable confidence boost because of the decisions made by the British Cabinet about visa-free access, because of the further decisions made about war widows, which I very much welcomed, and of course the decision made about the ethnic minorities. Some people would have liked to have gone further, but I think it's an important step in very much the right direction. I think that after the Prime Minister's speech yesterday, and after his answers to questions, nobody should be able to say again that Britain doesn't recognise its substantial and substantive commitment in the short, the medium and the long term to Hong Kong, a commitment that is legal, that is moral and that is economic. And that commitment was underlined by the Prime Minister yesterday I think as forcefully as it's ever been done by any British minister or politician. I think there are now a number of consequences which follow from that visit. First of all, we in Hong Kong must do all we can to ensure that private members legislation comes forward rapidly on the war widows. I think there are a number of things that the Chinese have to do in order to make their contribution to greater confidence in the community. The British Government has made a sensible and helpful decision on visa-free access. Now it's for Chinese officials, for Chinese leaders, to make as rapidly as possible an equally sensible and positive decision on right of abode in Hong Kong after 1997. The sooner we can have proposals brought forward for the detailed and sensitive implementation for Mr Qian Qichen's promises and the promises in the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law on right of abode the better. And I think the whole community will be looking to Chinese officials for those sort of assurances within the coming weeks. So there's obviously still much work for us to do. There are decisions which we still need to take and to get right, but I think that this week has been a good one for Hong Kong, and a week whose consequences will echo down the coming months and indeed years. Thank you very much indeed.

Question: Did Mr Prime Minister discuss about the right of abode with the Chinese Premier in Bangkok?

Governor: I think you'll have to ask the Prime Minister's Office or the Foreign Office for details of his meeting. I think that every British official who has met an opposite number recently has raised the question of right of abode. I'm pretty certain that the Prime Minister after telling Premier Li Peng about our decision on visa-free access went on to mention the importance of an early decision on right of abode as well. But in order to get confirmation of that, you have to ask the Foreign Office.