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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Mr Raymond Tam, at a media session after attending a radio programme this morning (December 14):
Reporter: ... the consultation document is quite restrictive. What do you think is the most important part of the consultation?
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs: Our consultation document serves the only purpose of laying out the essence of the constitutional and legal framework within which the future discussions and proposals should be based upon. The reason why we have to do that is because for any legislative proposal to be submitted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government to the Legislative Council must be legal and must be constitutional. Otherwise, the HKSAR Government will not be doing our duty. So, in order to achieve that objective, we have to specify from the outset the relevant constitutional and legal framework for our Hong Kong community to put forward their proposals. And, it is only proper, and actually necessary, for us as the Government to do so. I would also add that if we can all come together on the common constitutional and legal framework, the room for putting forward proposals is very large actually. There are so many options that could be considered on the basis of the existing constitutional and legal framework. So, I won't describe that as restrictive. I would say that actually provides quite a good common basis for people to express their opinion.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Saturday, December 14, 2013
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