Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session after attending the opening ceremony of "Longevity and Virtues: Birthday Celebrations of the Qing Emperors and Empress Dowagers" exhibition this afternoon (July 1):
 
Reporter: Mrs Lam, what do you think about the pro-democracy march today? And do you think Hong Kong deserves true universal suffrage?
 
Chief Executive: Hong Kong is a very free society. We have freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. We respect these activities as long as they are conducted in an orderly manner. And of course everybody wants more democracy, and it is also laid down in the Basic Law, Article 45, that the ultimate objective is to achieve universal suffrage in the selection of the Chief Executive. And as I said in my manifesto, we need to create the environment that is conducive to restarting this process of discussing constitutional development in Hong Kong.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Saturday, July 1, 2017
Issued at HKT 19:46

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