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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Acting Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session before the Executive Council meeting this morning (October 13):
ReporterĄG Joshua Wong tries to lower the age of running for LegCo elections to 18 years old. How do you feel about this matter? And secondly, even though Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said yesterday it is the first time she heard of the case of a reporter being charged in Thailand, and how would the Government respond to this?
Acting Chief Executive: I have actually answered both questions in Cantonese, but I'll just briefly repeat my response. First, as far as the application to lower the age for persons to become candidates in LegCo elections, since it might already have entered what we call judiciary proceedings, it is not appropriate for me to express the government view. What I have said is, so far, in the process of taking forward Hong Kong's democratic development and in discussions with the Legislative Council and with the public on electoral arrangements, we have not, sort of, received a very strong desire to lower the age from 21 to 18.
As far as the issue of the journalist, of course we have expressed our concern to the Thai Government. We hope very much that the issue could be resolved as soon as possible in accordance with the legal proceedings in Thailand.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Issued at HKT 11:17
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MP4 format