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The following is issued on behalf of the Executive Council Secretariat:
Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session by the newly appointed Executive Council (ExCo) members, Mr Charles Lee Yeh-kwong, Mr Ronald Arculli, Dr David Li Kwok-po, Dr Edward Leong Che-hung, Mr Marvin Cheung Kin-tung, Mr Henry Fan Hung-ling, Mr Victor Lo Chung-wing, and Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, at the Central Government Offices today (October 14):
Reporter: I would like each of you to say by what year you would like to have Hong Kong see full universal suffrage?
Charles Lee Yeh-kwong: May be I will defer this question to Ron (Ronald Arculli)?
Reporter: I’d like all of you to answer.
Charles Lee Yeh-kwong: Okay. On political reform, we don’t have the detail yet, so I’m not in the position to comment.
Ronald Arculli: I think as far as I’m concerned, my views are made public. I would like to see universal suffrage as soon as possible. But one’s also got to be very practical and reasonable about it. So in terms of that direction, you’ve heard Mr Tsang saying that he would also like it as quickly as possible, but more often than not in life, what we want and what we get are two quite different things.
Dr David Li: I agree with Ron. I would like to see universal suffrage, as you know, as quickly as possible under the Basic Law.
Dr Edward Leong Che-hung: A few days ago I’ve been asked by one of the media friends whether I’m a very conservative person. I said my track record shows that I'm not. Actually, I’m a very practical person. While on one hand I do believe that we should move to universal suffrage as quickly as possible, I think we have to consider many, many practical situations. And I definitely feel we will have to look at the Constitutional Development Task Force’s Fifth Report before we can start having a basis for discussion.
Reporter: I would like to follow up on that last question. Does that mean you can see under no circumstances in which your conscience would require you to resign from Exco rather than to accede to a policy with which you disagree.
Ronald Arculli: I think conscience is always a very important aspect of any politician or someone who participates in politics. Generally speaking when you have an issue that you call upon your conscience, like, for instance, the death penalty, even political parties, do not hold their members to the party lines. So I think in terms of the process within the Executive Council as I said earlier, the rules are very simple. It’s collective responsibility, confidentiality and indeed the Basic Law even contemplates that a majority of the non-officials might disagree with the Chief Executive and if that were to be the case it would have to be put on record. So I think the rules are quite clear. If you ask me now on what issue might I decide to tender my resignation, I can’t think of one right now.
Reporter: I think I am correct in saying – correct me if I am wrong – you own a number of factories in different places and I think some of them are not strangers to industrial dispute. I’m wondering if you can let us know how you view labour issues, for example, maximum working hours and minimum wage.
Victor Lo Chung-wing: Yes, my company is very much relating to manufacturing, particularly in China. I think the Pearl River Delta, and other parts of China, have come a long way in the last 20 years in industrialisation. Of course, in the early stage, investors went in because wages were low, land was cheap, workers in China were hardworking and they’re willing to work long hours for low wages. But I think that market forces alone will cause it to change. In fact if you go to China today, even in the last five years, working hours have become shorter, wages are going up, so the whole thing is changing. I think market forces will change that and all kinds of different social forces will change that. And also, employers’attitude towards how they treat workers have to change if they want to retain good workers.
Reporter: … legislating maximum hours and minimum wages in Hong Kong?
Victor Lo Chung-wing: No. I believe in market forces. I think legislation should be considered, but it should be kept to a minimum.
Reporter: Mr Cheung, my question is going to follow, of course, directly on that. You were not merely in a party, but you were vice-chairman of a party that had a position on 2007 as you referred to. That is now out as you say. In taking this position are you not already compromising yourself on your stand? And how far are you willing to compromise because you are very soon going to have a fifth report which is going to have suggestions in it that you may or may not be able to accept? Where is the point – is it 2007, 2012 - will you say, no I can’t do that, I have to walk out. I think you should know the answer to that question.
Professor Anthony Cheung: Indeed I was the vice-chairman of the Democratic Party until the end of 1998 and since then I was just an ordinary member and I left the party late last year. The main reason I left the party was to focus my efforts on the organisation of a think tank. I still consider myself having a very clear identity as a think tank leader. That is why I said I would bring this into the Exco. My aspirations for democratic development have been around for the last three decades and for many of us who have been fighting for democracy over the years, we have been disappointed quite often. The disappointment has not prevented us from fighting, arguing in favour of more democracy in Hong Kong over the years. I mean look at our elected legislators. They campaigned on universal suffrage. I don’t think they will simply resign from Legco if they cannot get their ultimate objective accepted at this stage. I think that is a spirit of fighting for what you believe incessantly. I think that spirit is important.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, October 14, 2005
Issued at HKT 20:07
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