Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr John Lee, at a media session at the Legislative Council Complex today (October 27):
Reporter: Is the Government telling the courts how to rule on the Alliance (the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China) case, and what will happen to the Alliance's frozen assets, and what would happen if the court ends up ruling otherwise? And also, on the pandemic exemptions, is there a date that the Government is going to announce the arrangement of the cancellation of exemptions?
Chief Secretary for Administration: The cancellation of the Hong Kong Alliance's registration from the Companies Register is a separate matter from the court case in which the Hong Kong Alliance is being charged for matters relating to threatening national security. The Hong Kong Government has a responsibility to take action to prevent, suppress and punish acts that threaten the national security. When such threat happens, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has an active duty to take action. We will be resolute. When the Hong Kong Government has evidence and believes that this action is necessary, it will be taken and it will be taken fast. This is a very clear position that I have been telling everybody that in regard to national security matters there is no room for compromise.
In regard to our overall strategy and tactics to fight the COVID-19 threats, we are actively looking at cancelling a lot of exemption classes, so that we will limit the exemption classes to daily necessities or activities that are relevant to the daily living of society, and of course we will have to ensure that government functions can proceed as normal so as to ensure that we can do things for the betterment of society. I have asked different bureaus to look at the related classes of people under their purview with a view to cancelling as many as possible the exemption classes, and we will announce the details as soon as possible, and it will be very soon.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
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