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"These are worthy goals, but government intervention to reverse market forces will not produce such results."
He said that to go against the verdict of free and fair competition was not the way for Hong Kong to respond to its challenges, and for the Government such as Hong Kong to conduct such experiments now while the economy was already stretched at full employment or enjoying sustained growth compounded the risks involved.
"In Hong Kong we create new jobs and boost production by providing entrepreneurs and investors with the right environment. The message from the Asian region over the last two decades is very clear," Mr Tsang said.
"The more that politicians and bureaucrats abandon economic planning and economic controls the more room they create for enterprise, productivity and economic growth," he added.
He further pointed out that there was another all-important objection to following the interventionist advice.
According to Mr Tsang, the sort of policy changes the Government was being asked to accept would be a retreat from the capitalist system and an advance towards socialist policies.
"Such a change would be quite contrary to the Basic Law.Article 5 of the Basic Law allows for no compromise on this matter.
"It states quite bluntly: 'The socialist system and policies shall not be practised in the Hong Kong SAR, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for fifty years."
日中中
In his keynote speech, Mr Tsang also gave an account of the achievements from the recent APEC meeting in the Philippines and the opportunities and challenges that the ASEAN economies present to Hong Kong into the 21st century.
Mr Tsang said there were tremendous opportunities ahead but warned that the challenges should not be underestimated.
He said that first, ASEAN economies had set up a free trade arrangement which provided for staged reduction of tariffs to five per cent or below on substantially all products among ASEAN members by the year 2003.
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