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Governor: That will be a matter for my successor but I think that it would be surprising if there was not some government representation. After all, what we are remembering is those who sacrificed their lives, not least to defend Hong Kong and its freedoms, and those who sacrificed their lives included very many brave local Chinese.

Question: Mr Patten, how will you persuade ... during your trip to Europe... about free entry for SAR passport holders?

Governor: If you look back at your notes you will see that I gave a fairly extensive reply to that, pointing out that the main issue as far as Paris and Bonn is concerned is a question of whether or not SAR passports are placed on the Common Visa List. The first thing we have to do is to ensure that they are not placed on the Common Visa List.

Question: How confident is that you can successfully persuade them to ...?

Governor: We have had some hopeful earlier exploratory discussions at official level and I think that people in the European Union now understand our position much better and understand the importance of this issue to us, so I hope that I will be able to capitalise on that increase in understanding. The European Union, which has such a large stake in Hong Kong, must understand the importance to Hong Kong of the easiest possible travel and of the easiest possible access for our people with our passports to their countries.

Question: Are you going to organise any orientation programme for the Chief Executive Designate?

Governor: Any orientation programme?

Question: Yes.

Governor: I think the Chief Executive Designate will have his own ideas about what sort of briefing he wants - now we know it is going to be a he- and we will be happy to provide that briefing in the sort of way the Chief Executive would like. Clearly, there are one or two areas where it is important for us to ensure that briefing is as comprehensive as possible.