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Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, on the personnel arrangements for the posts of the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology; the Secretary for the Civil Service; and the Director of the Chief Executive's Office at Central Government Offices New Annexe today (January 24):
Reporter: Chief Executive, I am quite simply passing on a question I am finding frequently on my work desk from my colleagues on the other side of the globe regarding constitutional reform. Why not, quite simply, organise a referendum to find out what are the priorities of the population?
Chief Executive: Well, today is not the day to talk about constitutional development and I hope we can find it out on other occasions. The important thing is that constitutional changes must take place within a certain legal framework. That framework has been set out in the Basic Law. Referendum is not one of the medium we normally use for this purpose. The most important thing is any changes must be predicated on the agreement of the Hong Kong people as represented by two-thirds majority of the legislature, agreement of the Chief Executive and the Central People’s Government. This is the way in which we proceed with changes and not through referendum. Again, today is not a day to discuss that subject. We may find some other occasions to do so.
Reporter: My question refers actually to an earlier question. There is an observation that has been made that the Government may be short on qualified candidates for certain positions. Did you find that in putting together your reshuffle you were perhaps constrained, perhaps you made a smaller reshuffle than you might have otherwise, by an inability to identify candidates you felt were ready to take on greater responsibilities?
Chief Executive: I have not found inhibition in that regard. The most important thing is identifying the right candidate to do the right job and on this occasion John (Tsang) is certainly eminently suitable to fill the job of the director of my office because of his temperament, because of his experience and his ability. And quite clearly you can see in the light of his considerable experience in trade, Joseph (Wong) is eminently suitable for the job of the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, and surely everyone would agree that Denise (Yue) is the most appropriate candidate to fill the job of the Secretary for the Civil Service. And this is the way I will proceed with it. All consequential changes will be dealt with separately. We have a very competent, very efficient civil service and I am sure that these minimal changes would not cause any problem at all, but in effect, would enhance the productivity and efficiency of the organisation as a whole.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Issued at HKT 14:40
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