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Following is the English part of the transcript of the question-and-answer session given by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, at the CGO lobby this (Friday) evening:

Reporter: How much money do you think we need to use and how long can we continue to fight like this?

Mr Tung: I am not going to tell you the details of what we have done, but I want to tell you this: We are doing this not to support the stock market. We are doing this purely against speculative play which links the currency and the stock and futures markets, and we would do it time and time again in order to make sure our point come across.

Reporter: Did you ask the central government in Beijing before you made the decision?

Mr Tung: No, the decision was made, was thought through very carefully, and then the decision was taken by ourselves. Obviously the central government knows about this but it's happened until now. Everybody knows.

Transcript of Chief Executive's question-and-answer session (Chinese)

End/Friday, August 14, 1998

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