XN000022-1997-01-23 — Page 4

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Mr Cheung Bing-leung (in Chinese): Mr President, some officials from China indicate that the Provisional Legislature, before July 1st, 1997 will pass certain Bills into legislation - before July 1st 1997 - and just now the Governor said they will be subject to legal challenge. So I would like to know: the Hong Kong Government as well as the British Government, over the past few months, through what channels have you ascertained with the Chinese Government about this issue and what sort of explanation have you received from the Chinese side?

Governor: The simple point is that the Provisional so-called Legislature can't legislate; it has no constitutional power to legislate or purport to legislate for Hong Kong. I'll tell you what sort of assurances we have had. The clearest assurances we have had have been from the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China who made it clear to the British Foreign Secretary, in April, that there could be only one legislature before 30 June - and I assume after 30 June - just as there could be only one judicial appeal system and only one governor and government. If Mr Qian Qichen is now seeking to resile from that commitment made to the British Foreign Secretary, I think he should explain why.

Mr Fred Li (in Chinese): Mr President, I would like to ask a question about livelihood. Recently, certain organisations have released a report on a survey on poverty in Hong Kong. Can I ask such a question? And the result of the survey shows that many low- income earners actually are becoming more and more worse-off and the poverty situation is getting from bad to worse, and the Administration has yet to make one single comment on these survey findings. I would like to know whether departments of the government have done any study on the reports and whether they have come up with any measures in order to reduce the hardships faced by people from the lower- income group?

Governor: The honourable gentleman should not forget that he is addressing the question to somebody who has been widely denounced for his excessive socialism and welfare-spending over the last four and a half years. I am grateful to be attacked from the other flank on this occasion.

I have to say that the report to which the honourable gentleman refers was not a prominent issue on my agenda when I went to London, though perhaps it should have been. Had it been, I am sure that I would have been able to point out that among sociologists and economists there are a number of different models for defining people's poverty and for discussing redistribution of income. I think that this particular model underestimates the impact on people's living standards over the last few years not just of increases in CSSA payments but of increases in investment in health-care, in education and in other things which help to raise the overall standard of living of those who are poor.