And we in the Hong Kong government have undertaken our functions and responsibilities strictly in accordance with the Basic Law - we have and will continue to exercise the high degree of autonomy given us under the Basic Law. Those of you in the audience who have visited Hong Kong since reunification would, I am sure, agree that 'one country, two systems' is being successfully implemented. That is not to say we have not encountered problems at all. I think it would be fair to say that this is something to be expected in a system that has never been tried before. Freedom of speech and of assembly are very much alive and well in Hong Kong.
Demonstrations are an everyday occurrence.
And newspapers continue to take the government to task where they perceive, rightly or wrongly, that the administration is not doing its job properly. But that's how it should be. We don't always agree with their criticisms. In fact, most of the time we don't. But that's how the system works in a free society such as yours and ours.