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The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, today (Monday) met with the Foreign Minister, Mr Tang Jiaxuan, and hosted a dinner in his honour.

Mr Tang arrived in Hong Kong this evening after attending the fifth ASEAN Regional Forum held in Kuala Lumpur and visiting the Philippines and Malaysia. He will leave for Beijing tomorrow morning.

During the meeting, the Chief Executive expressed his grave concern about the violence against ethnic Chinese in the recent disturbances in Indonesia. He also conveyed to the Foreign Minister the feelings of the Hong Kong people towards these unfortunate incidents.

Mr Tung learnt that the Central Government had raised the issue with the Indonesian Government repeatedly through diplomatic channels and had requested the Indonesian Government to investigate the violence thoroughly in order to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.

Mr Tang and Mr Tung also reviewed the latest economic situation in the ASEAN countries and Japan, and their future outlook.

End/Monday, August 3, 1998

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Photo Caption: The Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, greets the Foreign Minister, Mr Tang Jiaxuan.