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Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session given by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa, at the Central Government Offices this (July 9) afternoon¡G
Reporter: Mr Tung, can you tell us about the justifications for giving this award to Mr Yeung?
Mr Tung: I should have repeated my opening statement in English. I am sorry. I am off to Washington tomorrow. I am looking forward to meeting with President Bush, other government officials as well as members of the Senate and the Congress. The purpose of my visit is really to introduce to President Bush and his colleagues how well Hong Kong has done since the return and how well we have successfully implemented the "One Country Two Systems", and also to explain to him our economic developments in the past few years and what to look forward to in the future. I would particularly emphasize on the importance of Hong Kong when China accedes to WTO in the near future. I think Hong Kong can play a very important role for American businesses who want to go into the very big Chinese market.
With regards to the question of Mr Yeung Kwong, I think we owe a lot of Hong Kong success in the past many many years to our industrialists, to people in the business. We also owe this success to those professionals and to our academics. But I think very very important too is the contribution made by our grassroots, by our people who participate in our day-to-day work. And Mr Yeung is really a forerunner or a pioneer in labour movement. He advocates the benefits and he looks after the welfare of the mass of our workers whether it is in areas of education, in areas of medical services or other social services. I think it is for this sort of things he has done day in day out for the last thirty odd years that we are giving him that particular recognition.
Reporter: ... about Cathay Pacific
Mr Tung: The strike or the industrial action at Cathay Pacific is seriously affecting our economy, creating inconvenience for our travelling public and affecting our tourism. Every year or two, we have this strike action, we have this industrial unrest. And it is not acceptable for Hong Kong. I sincerely hope the two sides will, in their negotiations, take into account the overall interest of Hong Kong and find a long term and a good solution for all of us. Thank you very much.
(Please also refer to Chinese part of the transcript)
End/Monday, July 9, 2001
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