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The following is the transcript of the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Anson Chan's question-and-answer session after her speech at the luncheon of the British Chamber of Commerce today (Thursday):
Question: Thank you for a very enlightening speech. The British community, as you would know, and certainly the members of this chamber, represent about 10 per cent of the Hong Kong work force, and I think -- I'm pretty sure I ...on behalf of our members in saying how much we welcome the initiatives, and particularly the environmental initiatives in the recent Policy Address.
We are concerned, as you said, that some of the measures and the rate of implementation don't seem to have the urgency with which we believe the issues could be and should be addressed. Britain has a large and long experience of technologies and processes in improving the environment, and many of our member companies here, I know, have that knowledge and experience in Hong Kong. And, therefore, I put two things. First of all, the Council for Sustainable Development which is going to be set up. I'm not sure of the composition but we would love to be involved. And secondly, please tell us what you would like our members to do to improve the environment with the Government, and I'm sure we will rise to the challenge and make Hong Kong a quality home to live in for all of us.
Mrs Chan: On your first point, I take note of your interest. We are currently giving thought, in fact, to the membership of this Council on Sustainable Development, and we will certainly take into account the interest of this chamber and its members.
I think that improving the environment, as we have tried to point out, is not just something that the Government can do on its own. We need the co-operation and the support of businesses like yourselves and we need, quite frankly, also a heightened awareness of the need to protect and improve our environment amongst the community at large. And in this respect, I think we're slightly concerned that if you look at some of the recent surveys amongst the community as to issues that are utmost in the minds of the average man in the street, environment comes way down. I realise that British companies have a great deal of expertise and experience in how to protect the environment, whether it is in the production of cars using environmentally friendly fuels or in other areas. So I would encourage you all, for example, one of the areas that we are thinking, are interested to see - whether it could be developed further - is the use of more friendly fuels, electrically-driven cars. LPG cars, I think, we are going to -- you know, but I was recently told that nowadays, some of the motor companies actually produce cars that run on electricity. Now, we've tried experimenting with electric cars before, probably on a very, very small scale, but we do have to take into account peculiarities of Hong Kong, particularly our terrain, and whether the electrically-charged cars will actually meet the market demand. But to the extent that you have expertise and experience, whether it is in consultancy, in actual products, I would encourage you to keep up dialogue, communication, with the administration, particularly with the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands.
When our thoughts are a bit further on how the business sector as a whole can play a more active role, I'm sure we would be delighted to come along and speak with members of this chamber.
Question: Mrs Chan, good afternoon. As you know, SMEs represent a very substantial proportion of Hong Kong's business. Indeed, they represent 90 per cent of the British Chamber member companies. How effective would you say the Hong Kong Government's special finance scheme for SMEs has been and how do you see the short and long term role of SMEs in the recovery of the Hong Kong economy? With what further means might the administration encourage SME participation?
Mrs Chan: You're absolutely right in saying that small and medium-sized enterprises are an important part of Hong Kong economy. To be precise, 98 per cent is small and medium-sized enterprises and they employ 60 per cent of the total work force. So those figures alone illustrate that the Government do need and, in fact, we are paying particular attention to small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly against the background of the economic recession and difficulties in the last two to three years. You know we have set up the two-and-a-half billion dollars fund to specifically assist small and medium-sized enterprises. I know that there have been complaints that this has not really met its objective. But as I hope you will also have noticed, in the light of earlier experience, we have recently introduced improvements to the way that disbursements are made, and I hope very much that this will help improve the assistance that we provide to small and medium-sized enterprises. Indeed, I understand that the total amount of two-and-a-half billion dollars are now, in fact, already pledged. And so, new applications will be, as it were, funded out of the recycled funds.
Within the Government, we provide a one-stop unit to support small and medium-sized enterprises, providing information, assisting in any way we can. The Productivity Council and the Trade Development Council also provide support services, but I note what you say in that members of this chamber - quite a few of them - are small to medium-sized enterprises. So if you feel that some of the services that we currently provide are not meeting the targeted groups or not going far enough, then I encourage you either to contact us and we have a committee that advises specifically on the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises, or indeed, to contact directly the Productivity Council and the Trade Development Council. But in terms, for example, of bank funding, as you know, we have been trying to encourage banks to extend more loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, but I am sure you will be very alarmed at any suggestion that we should in any way tell banks whom to lend to and whom not to lend. We will make it possible and we have made it possible for the risk to be shared jointly by the banks and the Hong Kong Government. But at the end of the day, the banks themselves have said it has to be a commercial decision, and they have to be satisfied that they should be making these loans on prudent principles.
Of course, in overall terms, when the economy starts improving and the Asian financial crisis - the impact of that - recedes into the background, then hopefully the extension of credit to small and medium-sized enterprises will also improve.
Question: Chief Secretary, your concept of a world class city has to be applauded, but if you look at the history of the other two world class cities, I think there are some differences that one has to overcome. First one is the space with which both London and New York are able to extend into as their populations grow and, of course, the communication links that they have to those extended areas. You also need in a world class city a great diversity of immigration. If you look at New York, without the Poles, the Italians, the Germans and the Irish, New York would not be what it is today. The same in London, with respect to the Huguenots, the Jewish refugees, the West Africans, the Caribbeans, the Indians and the Pakistanis. When these people came as immigrants, they came to very low cost housing areas, almost slums like Queens and the Bronx and the East End of London, and they made their way through society by the refugee mentality for which Hong Kong used to be famous. I think we have to rebuild the refugee mentality to give us the energy and enthusiasm to help us to continue to grow.
So in summary, I think we need the opportunity to migrate beyond our borders and we need to have the freedom to bring in people at all levels, not just technologists and technocrats who keep the wage levels up. I believe we need all levels of society and the diversity of that society to bring in culture, art and competition to make Hong Kong to be a world class city.
Mrs Chan: I don't disagree with the general thrust of your remarks, but I would take issue first - whether the fact that we want to bring back the refugee mentality. I'm not sure we quite want to do that. Of course, I realise the catalyst effect that immigration - liberal immigration - has had on the entire American community and the vitality of this economy. But unfortunately, we do have a serious constraint and the reality that we have to face in Hong Kong, and that is compared with New York or other parts of the United States, we just don't have the sufficient land to meet with that influx of people. So we have to try and make sure that we make use of our very scarce land resources in the best way that we can. And we've got to meet not only the needs of accommodation, but also the needs of industry and commerce.
Now, you talk about migration and natural, as it were, movement across the border. But as you know, that is already taking place, and it's not something that the Government nor is it desirable for the Government to set the pace. If people want to migrate across the border for whatever reasons, whether the cost of living is lower or what not, then they're entirely free to do so. And to the extent that the border between ourselves, it's increasingly getting more porous and we're improving transportation links. That will, I think, over time pick up speed.
In terms of welcoming to our shores, skills, I think unfortunately however much we want to, given our own natural population growth plus the responsibility we have towards enabling family reunions of those people who are across the mainland, we're not unfortunately able to welcome to our shores all and sundry, but we do, as we know, have a very liberal policy of importing skills. And as I pointed out in my speech, that has, if anything, improved after 1997. So I think that's the general way that we will move.
The other problem we have is, talking about land, whilst on the one hand we have scarce land resources, on the other hand, our legislature is being extremely difficult about reclamation. So where do we produce more land to meet industries' needs and to meet the needs of the community as a whole? Of course, I also realise that there are genuine concerns about reclamation, particularly the accusation that pretty soon, we're going to fill up the entire harbour.
So there are some realities, whether we like it or not, that we have to face in Hong Kong which happily other countries do not have.
Question: Chief Secretary, five years ago, it seems impossible you could come to a gathering like this without talking about aviation, but...
Mrs Chan: I was wondering when that question was coming.
Question: It's coming now. On behalf of the aerospace industry which is well represented in this room and, of course, it's a very multi-national industry, we would like to congratulate your administration for the superb facilities that you have provided which, I regret to see, has taken some time for the media to recognise the users actually enjoy them as well. That time is passing. We are pleased that the Government recognises that aviation is not just a tool of commerce; it is a creator of commerce. In view of that, what policies do you think your government can further provide in addition to the helpful announcements about landing fees and the Chief Executive's comment in his Address? And, of course, what else do you think we, the industry, can do to help Hong Kong? Thank you.
Mrs Chan: Well, the first point I would make is now that the Airport Authority has reduced its landing charges, I hope airlines will pass that on to consumers.
On a more serious note, we are very keen, now that we have additional capacity at Chek Lap Kok. And you know that previously, we weren't able to entertain more requests to fly in or out of Hong Kong simply because of a very, very restrictive capacity at Kai Tak. So clearly now that we have for ourselves a first class international airport with much extended capacity, we're very keen to make use of that capacity and develop and maintain Hong Kong as an international or, more importantly, a regional aviation hub.
I know that certain countries advocate open skies. I think we would feel more comfortable if open skies were actually both preached and practised. Nevertheless, that said, we are quite prepared to consider a request for additional traffic rights on the part of international airlines. The view we take is we're in a capacity to discuss these additional traffic rights but, as you know, the fundamental principle behind the exchange of air traffic rights is that there should be a balanced exchange of such flights. So on that basis, we are very happy to talk with any government that would care to talk to us about making better use of Hong Kong.
End/October 14, 1999
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