All the fears and concerns some people had prior to the Handover have proved in the event to be totally unwarranted. As one who was intimately involved in this extraordinary diplomatic and political exercise, I can assure you that Hong Kong is being run by Hong Kong people, without interference or direction from Beijing. Beijing has offered us a large measure of support, in particular during difficult episodes such as the predatory attacks on our currency last year, although they have left the handling of these and other matters entirely in our hands. Hong Kong remains a free society under the rule of law with all the freedoms you will find in any pluralist, civil society. All of us come under minute and occasionally unforgiving scrutiny by the freest press in Asia.
People are free to protest, and they do so often in large but mostly orderly numbers.
In short, we are the same energetic, entrepreneurial, hard working, and argumentative society that we were before the transition. These freedoms are the underpinning, the software if you like, of the world's freest economy. As an administration, we have always believed in minimal government interference in the economy. We still do. We believe that businessmen and women, not bureaucrats, are best placed to take business decisions.