Following is the transcript of remarks made by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Patrick Nip, at a media session today (April 4) after attending a radio programme:

Reporter: Secretary, if the epidemic continues till the summer, do you think there is room for the LegCo election to be moved back a little bit? Also, I want to ask about RTHK's interview with the WHO representative. We have referred to Taiwan as a "place" throughout the whole episode and also asked the representative whether they would reconsider Taiwan's membership. How does that violate the One-China Principle?

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs: As regards your first question about the LegCo election, LegCo election is a very important activity. It's for the voters to cast their votes, to elect their representatives in the Legislative Council. The Electoral Affairs Commission and the Registration and Electoral Office are doing all the necessary preparation work for this, including, for example, voter registration, consultation on the guidelines (on election-related activities in respect of the Legislative Council Election). All this preparation work is ongoing, but of course we will closely monitor the situation, especially the effect of the epidemic on this, and will review the situation as appropriate.

     As regards the interview with the WHO representative, I think it's very clear that the membership of the WHO is confined to sovereign states. Hong Kong's participation in the WHO is as a member of the Chinese delegation. So I think the issue on the membership of the WHO is clear enough.

     As regards the handling of the interview by RTHK, I think we have looked at it from the angles of RTHK as a government department and also RTHK as a public broadcasting authority. We would look at the issue and review it in accordance with the One-China Principle and the Charter that governs the work of RTHK. These matters are being handled by the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. Their position has already been articulated very clearly.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Saturday, April 4, 2020
Issued at HKT 12:06

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