Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive-elect, Mrs Carrie Lam, after paying a courtesy call to the President of the Legislative Council, Mr Andrew Leung this morning (March 27):
 
Reporter: You said you want to unite society and also communicate and connect with the pro-democracy camp, but, well, the crackdown on pro-democracy activists who took part in the "Occupy Central" movement, wouldn't that further worsen the relationship with the two camps?
 
Chief Executive-elect: Prosecution actions are undertaken independently by the Department of Justice under the Basic Law. I made it very clear that I want to unite society and bridge the divide that has been causing us concern, but all these actions should not compromise the rule of law in Hong Kong and also the independent prosecution process that I have just mentioned.
  
Reporter: Do you think you have been framed by all these arrests on your first day that you're elected?
 
Chief Executive-elect: No, this is an action of the current term of the Hong Kong SAR Government, done independently by the investigation and prosecution authority, so I really don't have anything to comment on that. I want to reiterate that the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary are important core values of Hong Kong, and as the Chief Executive-elect and also in time to become the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, I will firmly adhere to these very important principles. That's why in the first morning of my taking up the duties of the Chief Executive-elect, I called upon the Chief Executive, the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal and now the President of the Legislative Council because the executive, the legislature and the judiciary are all very important institutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
  
     (Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
 

Ends/Monday, March 27, 2017
Issued at HKT 14:20

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