XN000022-1996-12-11 — Page 12

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10.

"If for any reason the future legislature wants to change the law in any way, they are not precluded from doing so," he added.

"But of course they must explain to the public why the change is necessary."

He believes that at the end of the day, what will be enacted by the Legislative Council, which is a fully elected legislature, will be a law acceptable to the majority of the people in Hong Kong.

"I see no reason why such a law should be overturned by a future legislature if that legislature is equally responsive to the majority view of the people of Hong Kong," he said.

"Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that there will be offences of subversion and secession and the Basic Law will come into effect on July 1, 1997.

"A lot of people in Hong Kong do want to know what exactly amounts to the offences. If we do not try to define the offences before then, they will be quite worried that after that day, there are such offences but it is not clear on the statute book of Hong Kong exactly what the offences will be."

End

No change on recognition of HKCI

In response to media enquiries, a Government spokesman said today (Wednesday) that the Government understood that there was no change on the recognition of the Hong Kong Certificate of Identity (HKCI) by the Indonesian Government.

Press reports said some holders of the HKCI who had obtained visit visas issued by the local Indonesian Consulate were refused entry into Indonesia over the past few days.

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The spokesman confirmed that the Hong Kong Government had not received notice from the Indonesian Government on this matter.

"All holders of HKCI are permanent residents of Hong Kong. They are fully returnable to Hong Kong even if their document has expired," he said.