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Transcript of remarks by CE at media session (with video)
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     The Chief Executive, Mr C Y Leung, met the media at the ground floor lobby of the Chief Executive's Office at Tamar this morning (April 22). Also present were the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs Carrie Lam; the Secretary for Justice, Mr Rimsky Yuen, SC; and the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Raymond Tam. Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive:

Reporter: Mr Leung, you will not be in Hong Kong on Saturday when all of the other chief officials go down to districts and promote the package. Do you feel at all sidelined by Beijing, that you are actually not part of the process?

Chief Executive: I'm standing here announcing it. I, as the Chief Executive under the Basic Law, have the constitutional authority and the duty to give consent. And, as I have said, I am prepared to give this consent under the Basic Law, if the motion is passed by two-thirds' majority of the Legislative Council.

     I am going to Kuala Lumpur this weekend to attend the ASEAN Leadership Forum. As we all know, ASEAN is an important economic partner of ours and we have been working with ASEAN leaders on the possibility of Hong Kong entering into free trade agreements with ASEAN. It's a rare opportunity for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong to talk to all the ASEAN leaders who'll be present in Kuala Lumpur at the same time this weekend.

     We've been preparing this report and the proposal and I want the Hong Kong Government to make it public and present it to the Legislative Council as soon as it is ready. We could have waited for two weeks. The reason why I said two weeks is that the next weekend is the Labour Day long weekend and is not a very good time for us to launch an important initiative like this, and so we decided to launch it today and to have a campaign on Saturday, while I'll be in Kuala Lumpur busily talking to ASEAN country leaders.

Reporter: Chief Executive, exactly six months ago you said that there are foreign forces participating in the Occupy movement, and then you said that you would disclose details about it at an appropriate time. Has that time come yet?

Chief Executive: Well, I stand by what I say.

Reporter: Mr Leung, do you welcome moves by moderate legislators like Ronny Tong? He said he won't be vowing to veto the package anymore. And how do you persuade Hong Kong people that you have already tried your best to communicate with Beijing officials that you have maximised democratic elements?

Chief Executive: Well, one of the things that we did, and we did it in front of everyone's eyes, is to provide the platform in April last year for the pan-democratic members of the Legislative Council to talk and listen to Central Government officials on the question of universal suffrage to elect the Chief Executive in Shanghai. That was one of the many things that we did, and obviously, as you will read in the consultation report that we'll release today, we have fully and truthfully reflected the views of Hong Kong people, including LegCo members, to the Central Authorities.

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

Ends/Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Issued at HKT 11:54

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