XN000022-1996-05-30 — Page 10

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"China's Quest for US Trade Gets Unlikely Aid from Hong Kong's Patten" (Wall Street Journal)

"Confident Note Struck by Patten of Hong Kong. Chris Patten says Hong Kong Shouldn't Fear Future with China" (Asian Wall Street Journal)

And so on. I can offer several more along similar lines. I am afraid though, that as I said in my earlier remarks, the headlines that people were most concerned about, the headlines which had shaped some of the questions that I found myself answering, were the headlines which had appeared in March and April and had not, frankly, conveyed a very reassuring picture about Hong Kong. I am sure that recent American television interviews will have created a rather more reassuring impression. But I do think that people should be aware of the consequences of their actions and of the consequences of things that they say. And to borrow a phrase, a colloquial phrase: it's a bit rich to criticise those who have to deal with the consequences of those things rather than to criticise those who have said the difficult and awkward and damaging things for Hong Kong in the first place.

Mr Fred Li (in Chinese): I wonder, in future, if the Governor can also fairly pass some messages to the Hong Kong media because according to our observations, when you are outside you work differently. I hope you are not saying that the foreign media are more concerned about Hong Kong than compared with the Hong Kong media, so when you meet the Hong Kong media please be more forthcoming.

Governor: I think that parts of the Hong Kong media, and I include in the list 'Ta Kung Pao' and 'Wen Wei Po', have occasionally had reason to criticise me but I hope they have never criticised me because I am catatonically boring. There may be other reasons for criticism, although that may be vanity on my part. And I do not seek to criticise the press, it is the last thing that one should do. "Never complain, never explain", a very wise political leader once said. I do not seek to criticise the press for the way they report me or do not report me. If you say the same thing frequently, perhaps people stop writing it down and putting it in headlines. If others find what I say more interesting when I am away from Hong Kong, or even when I am in Hong Kong, then so be it.

Mr Chim Pui-chung (in Chinese): Mr President, we are ordinary people, we are not saints. We do make mistakes. Mr Governor, as last time I paid tribute to you last time, on April 28, when you answered our questions you talked about after 1997, and you said that the UK or yourself probably will not have any more interest in Hong Kong, but now in the US you said something quite different. You said that the UK will continue to have a interest in Hong Kong for another 50 years. Can you be more specific? In other words, what are the things that you will be interested in and what are the things that you will not be interested in?

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