Motion Debate on "The 4 June incident" (3 May 2006)

MR JAMES TIEN (in Cantonese): Deputy President, it has been 17 years since the outbreak of the 4 June incident. In the past, this motion was proposed by Mr SZETO Wah. But it has been proposed by Mr Albert HO since last year. Yet, no matter which Member proposes it, the stance of the Liberal Party remains the same as in previous years without any change.

I believe many Chinese will agree that the 4 June incident is a tragedy. Every patriotic Chinese will do everything within his ability to prevent the recurrence of such an incident. Regarding the causes and background of the incident, together with its eventual development into bloodshed, the Liberal Party firmly believes that it will eventually receive a fair treatment in history. What is most important for China now in development is to look ahead. Since the occurrence of the 4 June incident, our country has seized the opportunities to expedite the pace of opening up and development and has made spectacular achievement in many aspects which astounds the world. Since the consolidation of the political regime headed by HU Jintao and WEN Jiabao, a fresh style of governance and administration has been displayed, which deeply impresses many different countries.

In March this year, Premier WEN Jiabao disclosed in his working report that the Mainland's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2005 had increased by 9.9% over the previous year. As 2006 is the first year in the 11th Five-Year Plan, so the Mainland's GDP will grow in the next five years, probably increasing substantially by 7.5%. The economic growth in the first quarter has already amounted to 10.2%, and this has led to the central bank's earlier introduction of a 0.27% increase in the interest rate for the purpose of cooling down the mildly over-heated economy. Judging from the circumstances in all aspects, the living standards of the people have been rising and the country has moved completely into the stage of heading towards a moderately affluent society.

According to the 11th Five-Year Plan, the country will promote the structural optimization of industries. Through comprehensively boosting the capabilities and introducing innovative ideas in production, we should upgrade the overall technical level of the industries, so as to strive to develop advanced manufacturing industries. At the same time, the mainland authorities will speed up the development of service industries, including information technology, finance, insurance, and logistics, and so on. From these, we can see that the mainland economy will continue developing steadily. I believe every Chinese will share my aspiration to witnessing the steady growth and strengthening of our country.

The Liberal Party thinks that, no matter what kind of reforms the country shall launch, the prerequisite is to have a steady political and economic environment as the foundation. Only on such a foundation can we establish a democratic and prosperous society, thereby making our country stronger and richer and consequently the people's standards of living can enjoy greater protection. Deputy President, I so submit.