Following is the transcript of the question and answer session by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, at the luncheon in Tokyo today:

Question: It is believed that China may impose restrictions on freedom of expression and freedom of the press in the future. Is this true that Hong Kong media are in any sense less free that before the transition ?

Mr Tung: I think for all those people who visit Hong Kong will see freedom of the press, freedom of personal opinion flourishes in Hong Kong. There has been no sign of any censorship, self imposed or otherwise. The Journalists Association recently came out very openly and said there has been no evidence of any kind. Hong Kong's success is for many reasons, one of it is because of the freedom we enjoy today. We need to continue to preserve that, we will preserve that, freedom under "one country two systems" this will be preserved and this is provided for by the Basic Law.

Question: Many commentators say that you are an interventionist in the economy, similar to the Singapore model. Is this true and if so, why move away from Hong Kong's laissez faire experience ?

Mr Tung: Singapore has been very successful in Singapore's own way. We have been very successful in our own way by emphasising on free market economy, by emphasising on private sector taking charge of economic development. But what we are doing and what we have always been doing is to make sure the Government provide the necessary infrastructure, for instance, we have to provide the necessary physical infrastructure to make sure we continue to be a financial centre so we build the new airport. We have to be sure that we are in the forefront of the service sector so we make sure that our telecommunication is the most efficient, the least expensive in the world. And we want to be sure that information technology comes out strongly because this is what we need for our community so what do we do, we provide education for our people. These are the responsibilities of a good government and I think it is a right thing to do and we will continue to do that. Certainly we are not changing into interventionist policy, not at all.

Question: It has been suggested that the real estate market bubble has burst in Hong Kong. Is this true and if so, what will the Government do about this ?

Mr Tung: The prices of real estate market is a great deal of concern to every citizen of Hong Kong. Government survey has shown if you ask people in Hong Kong, what are your most concern about, any subject at all, close to 50 per cent of the people say, or may be even more, housing is our big concern. Our problem in housing comes in three areas, one is that because of the high costs at high end rental for companies like IBG or NEC or what have you. Others is really for the middle income people who find housing so expensive, it's beyond their reach and thirdly is that we have a long line, about six and a half year's waiting, for the poorer people who cannot get into some government subsidised housing. So these are all major concern for our community and what we are trying to do and what we are doing is determined to provide enough supply of land to make sure that these issues are resolved properly. We are going to build 85,000 units of housing every year. The first year 1998, because of the time is so short, we'll only be able to produce 70,000 units but beyond that we'll be producing more than 85,000 units a year. The objective is not to bring the market crushing down because learning the experience from Japan, we don't think a crashing of the real estate market is a good thing to do. So what we are trying to do is to achieve, you know, a sort of soft landing and of course, as a businessman, I know that it is easier said than done. But we are trying very hard to supply as much as we can to stabilise the prices, hopefully it will gradually decrease in some what to achieve a soft landing but our objective is not to cause any crash of the property market, neither to allow it to increase any further. If you then say to me, is that interventionist policy, I have to tell you that the Hong Kong Government is the largest landlord in Hong Kong and we do control all the land so we have the means to provide the supply to solve a very serious problem in Hong Kong. One other thing I like to add is this, there are genuine demand in Hong Kong. The demand is genuine there so it is really not quite a bubble situation. So we hope we can do it gently and next time when I see you, I can tell you whether I succeeded or not. Thank you very much.