HK Reaffirms Full Freedom of PressIt's reported that a government official with the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (SAR) has reiterated that the Hong Kong SAR Government will, in accordance with its consistent policies, continue to earnestly carry out the relevant stipulations of the Basic Law, fully respect and protect freedom of the press and pursue the principle of economic and trading freedom.The official pointed out that freedom of speech, the press and publication is protected by the Basic Law in Hong Kong. Since its home-coming, Hong Kong's media are, as always, active and full of vigor, reflecting the region's character of freedom and diversity. The SAR Government will continue to respect and protect the freedom of speech and the press. Besides, the SAR Government also indicates that Hong Kong is an international trading and financial center, and investors and businesses operating in Hong Kong can freely choose their business partners there. Hong Kong has always implemented the principle of economic and trading freedom and it's believed that any decision on business should be made by businessmen themselves without interference from anyone. China's inland and Taiwan are respectively the largest and the fourth largest trading partners of Hong Kong and maintenance and development of close economic and trading ties is vital to Hong Kong's prosperity and the benefits of the business circle. Hong Kong will continue to implement its free economic and trading policies, because this forms the foundation for Hong Kong's success. He reiterated that there should be no doubt about the determination of Hong Kong SAR Government to implement the Basic Law in accordance with the "One China, Two Systems" principle, and the fact that the Central People's Government has fully respected HKSAR's high degree of autonomy since the latter's return is also evident to all Hong Kongers and has won extensive praises from the international community. The Hong Kong SAR Government will, as always, devote its efforts to comprehensively carrying out the Basic Law in accordance with the principle of "One China, Two Systems" and strengthen the confidence of citizens and investors, and it's believed that these efforts will continue to gain the support of the Central People's Government and Hong Kong citizens as well. |
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