The Transcript of Questions and
Answers given by the Chief Executive at the lunch hosted by the Hong Kong General Chamber
of Commerce
******************************
Following are the Questions and
Answers given by the Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee Hwa at the lunch hosted by the Hong
Kong General Chamber of Commerce this (June 17) afternoon:
Question: Sir, when you were
concluding your remarks, you touched briefly on bankruptcies. You said in the last five
months bankruptcies had gone up three times, and the blame has been given to the economic
slump. That could be true of some extent, but a number of bankruptcies are not genuine
bankruptcies. Some people had closed their offices, opened new offices, and moved their
assets and a lot of bankruptcies are going on. I think the government needs to do
something to stop such bankruptcies. Is the government taking any steps to stop such
bankruptcies?
Mr Tung: I think there are laws
in Hong Kong that deal with criminal activities. I have also been briefed particularly
about the personal bankruptcies in areas of credit cards which, if we do not do something,
could become a very serious problem.
We are aware of this problem
and certainly we need to be constantly looking at this. I was looking at one of the
bankruptcy cases where a restaurant owner went bankrupt. One of the reasons why was that
because before 1997, he bought the properties which unfortunately had much higher value
and he owed the banks quite a bit of money. And secondly, probably Hong Kong is changing
culturally. And what the restaurant was doing in the past may have been successful
catering to birthdays and newborn babys' month-old dinners and a whole lot of other
things. And today, you know the culture is very different, you need other forms of
approach. And thirdly is, probably the costs of running a restaurant are really far too
expensive compared with some of the others. So, very often you can blame on the economy,
but very often, we need to be thinking outside the box, thinking about what can be done,
what the market really wants. Equally, there are people who make money with new
restaurants. So, I am sympathetic with those who are in difficulties, but on the other
hand, we really need to be thinking outside the box to survive in the first place and to
become successful eventually.
Question: Mr Tung, looking out
into the future, do you see Hong Kong to be one of the great cities of China or do you see
it being unique for identity, qualities and attributes?
Mr Tung: As I said earlier on,
by consulting a whole lot of people in the community, we have positioned Hong Kong as one
of the most important cities of China, as the world city of Asia, the premier
international city in Asia. I have every confidence we will get there, we are getting
there already, and there are things we need to do, to make sure we continue to be in that
position. We are part of China, so we are one of the most important cities in China but at
the same time the World City of Asia.
Question: Chief Executive. One
of the things that has worried analysts international and local, particularly since the
budget was brought down in March, was the government's own fiscal situation. Since then,
of course, we have seen the benefits that were going to come from 4.75 per cent cut in
civil service salaries reduced by half. And a lot of people in the business communities,
and as what I say, are concerned about where the government is going to be out to make the
cuts in expenditure over the next five years to reach a balance budget by 2005 and 2006,
particularly at a time when something like two-thirds of the total budget goes in terms of
paying civil service salaries and benefits. I am wondering if you got any idea where those
cuts are going to come because we have not certainly got anything from Mr Leung as yet.
Mr Tung: Thank you very much,
Ian. When I saw Ian stand up, I thought that's going to be an easy question because the
question must have been planted by Eden. Yes, let me first go back a bit to this
particular issue. We obviously had a set of plans as to how we can reduce the budget
deficit. And part of the plan is, of course, to include a cut in the salaries of 4.75 per
cent as presented by the Financial Secretary. But I think you will agree that it will not
be right for the government not to have other options available in case of need because
balance in the budget at the end of the day is very very important to us. Am I going to
tell you what these options are? The answer is no. Insofar as the civil service pay is
concerned, I know you are probably impatient even with the 4.75 per cent cut, let alone we
are now suggesting that the cut should be based on the conclusion of the pay trend. Let me
say this to you, in all fairness in my five years as head of Hong Kong, the 180,000 civil
servants have made their contribution to ensure a stable return of Hong Kong, to make sure
"One Country, Two Systems" succeeds. And in spite of the Asian financial
turmoil, to weather through these difficulties. Secondly is that, throughout this period
of time, the work force of the civil servants by March next year would have been reduced
by 17,000 people, at a total annual saving of $5.8 billion. In other words, the government
is now doing a lot more with a lot less. I would believe that one of the areas where
additional savings could be coming from is a continuing effort on the part of the
Government and all the civil service colleagues to improve our efficiency through the EPP
programme and to make our organization simpler, more efficient, and more effective. I
mention this because I want everybody to understand that civil servants are doing their
job, and that they are making their contributions and $5.8 billion is being saved annually
from the year of 2003 onward and in the future, we will continue to move in this direction
to generate more savings.
Question: Mr Tung, we have an
immigration policy which is very restrictive to allow us to tap on talents from the
Mainland. The policy is sometimes even very discriminative to many of the Mainland
businessmen who want to sort of set up their business to work here, or for the students to
receive education in Hong Kong, and then they will be posted back to the Mainland. Can you
tell us, do you see any change in your future policy in relation to removing those
barriers?
Mr Tung: Thank you, Stanley. I
can easily answer the question because last week I said one of the very important
responsibilities I have after July first is to establish a new population policy. Let me
put it this way, on one hand we are faced with an increasing number of people unemployed.
On the other hand, I think, as we move forward into a value-added economy, we are short of
people, professionals, and specialists at the other end. And thirdly is that, by 2030,
twenty-five per cent of the people will be sixty-five years or older. So you ask me do we
need a population policy, yes, we do need one. This is now being developed. Hopefully over
the next few months, you will see something very clear and very comprehensive from this
Government.
End/Monday, June 17, 2002
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