XN000022-1997-04-16 — Page 3

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Governor's transcript

Following is the transcript of the media session by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, after officiating at the topping-out ceremony of the Hong Kong Institute of Education in Tai Po this (Wednesday) afternoon:

Governor: Good afternoon. I am delighted to have been here for the topping-out ceremony at the institute. It is going to be a very important part of our efforts in the future to continue to raise the quality of education by further enhancing the vital profession of teaching. It is a tremendous project and I am delighted that those responsible for it have managed to do so much so quickly.

Question: Governor, what kind of assistance does the government think is reasonable to offer the incoming government to facilitate the passage of right of abode... at the time of the handover?

Governor: Well let me lay out for you the whole story. I think we should have been able to reach an agreement on right of abode last autumn; there were very few issues of substance dividing us. The only real problem which came up again and again was the Chinese insistence that right of abode legislation should be considered and approved by the provisional legislature. They were saying that at the same time that Mr Qian Qichen was asserting that there could only be one legislative council before 30 June.

We made a number of suggestions. We first of all suggested that we would put legislation agreed with the Chinese to the present Legislative Council. Then we suggested that we should put some legislation to the existing Legislative Council and the rest should be put to the Legislative Council of the SAR after 30 June. That wasn't acceptable either.

The last proposal that we put was the suggestion that we would prepare and draft a White Bill. I suggested that we should agree the drafting instructions with the Chief Executive (designate's) office, that we should agree the terms of the Bill with the Chief Executive (designate's) office, that we should then draw up the Bill ourselves and put a White Bill forward which the whole community could see and discuss and then on 1 July the legislative body of the SAR Government could consider it.

That proposition was put through the JLG. It was further put to senior Chinese officials in Peking. Then just under a fortnight ago, the Friday before last, I put that proposal to the Chief Executive (designate).