Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session at the Hong Kong International Airport this afternoon (April 29):
 
Reporter: Mrs Lam, what will you do if the amendment is not passed during the current legislative term? Would you consider using a sunset clause to deal with the Chan Tong-kai case on a one-off basis? And do you care about the opposition from almost 100 000 of people who protested yesterday?
 
Chief Executive: The so-called "sunset clause" will not achieve the two objectives that I have just mentioned and repeatedly mentioned in public about doing this particular amendment exercise – that's point number one. Point number two is I realised at the very outset that this is not an easy task, it is going to be controversial and contentious, and that's why we have taken up this task with very serious attention, very comprehensive analysis before we present the legislative amendments to the Legislative Council. The third point I want to say is Hong Kong is a very free society. We respect the expression of opinions by the people of Hong Kong in an orderly manner, and we are always willing to listen to opinions in Hong Kong and see whether we could do more, explain more, to allay those concerns and anxieties. At the end of the day, we have to ask ourselves whether we will continue to tolerate this loophole in our system on the return of fugitive offenders to the extent that we will be making Hong Kong a haven for all these offenders of serious crimes from all over the world. We remain very convinced and committed to doing this not-easy task and I hope that we will have the support of society and the understanding and co-operation of members of the Legislative Council.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Monday, April 29, 2019
Issued at HKT 20:45

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