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Press Briefings & Releases

Press Briefings & Releases


CE's transcript at press conference on report to NPCSC
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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the press conference given by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, today (April 15) on his report to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) on whether there is a need to amend the methods for selecting the Chief Executive and for forming the Legislative Council:

Reporter: Mr Tung, if you could please, in the actual report, just to clarify, it says "may be amended". In your speech and translation now, it comes to as "should be amended". I wonder if you could clarify for us, whether it should be "may" or "should". And secondly, if you could say what factors led you to your conclusion? There is a distinction between "may" and "should".

Chief Executive: In Chinese, what I said was "should be"; "Should be" is more proper.

Reporter: What factors led you to your conclusions that it should be amended?

Chief Executive: I think, if you look at what is happening here in Hong Kong. One way is to stop at where we are and not to move forward. The other way is to move forward very very fast. And I think the key thing for us to see for ourselves is that I think we should begin to move forward. And this is where we are now. And the suggestion is that, yes, we should be moving forward. And we are seeking the consent of the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

Reporter: What led you to that conclusion? What led you to believe that it should be changed? That it needs to be changed?

Chief Executive: I think, Francis, you know as well as I do. To stand still where we are, I don't think it is a solution. And I think it is a right way to move forward. And there are voices in the community. Of course, there are different voices in the community. But there are voices in the community that we should be moving forward.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Thursday, April 15, 2004
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2004 | Important notices Last revision date: 1 July 2007
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