Gov't to reinforce efforts

November 15, 2019

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung:

Let me stress here very clearly that we are determined to reinforce the Government’s efforts internally, to co-ordinate our work, our efforts across the board, across a full spectrum of the entire Administration, to tackle the present crisis, the present situation.

In other words, the whole problem before us at the moment is a challenge. It’s not just a problem for individual departments or bureaus, it’s for the entire Hong Kong community. 

That’s why we have to act in concert - in unison, with one heart, one mind, one purpose, one mission - to put violence to an end as soon as practicable for the interest of Hong Kong, for the sake of every Hong Kong law-abiding citizen. I think this is incumbent on the Government and also the whole community to work together, to join hands together, to really say no to violence. 

On the part of the Government, as I said in the Legislative Council debate yesterday and the day before, we’ve already had various co-ordinating mechanisms in place. But I’ve now decided to really go one step forward, to reinforce our efforts on that score, by making sure that our responses are well co-ordinated and make sure they’re effective and robust enough to tackle the present crisis. A good example is that we are not just helping Police, I think we are now ensuring that all departments, all bureaus are clamping down on violence, tackling violence as the number one priority.
 
As President Xi Jinping said yesterday, putting an end to violence and restoring law and order is the overwhelming priority of the entire Government, entire Hong Kong community. It’s not just the Government alone, Hong Kong’s number one priority now is to really put an end to this violence and also restore peace and order to Hong Kong. So we are doing it on all fronts and in a very serious fashion.

(To watch the video with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Government is determined to reinforce its efforts internally and co-ordinate its work across a full spectrum of the entire Administration to tackle the current situation.

Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung made the remarks during an inter-departmental press conference today that included Secretary for the Civil Service Joshua Law, Secretary for Transport & Housing Frank Chan, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung and Secretary for Constitutional & Mainland Affairs Patrick Nip.

Mr Cheung described the situation as not just a challenge for Government departments and bureaus, but for the entire Hong Kong community.

"That's why we have to act in concert - in unison, with one heart, one mind, one purpose, one mission - to put violence to an end as soon as practicable for the interest of Hong Kong, for the sake of every Hong Kong law-abiding citizen.

"I think this is incumbent on the Government and also the whole community to work together, to join hands together, to really say no to violence."

The Government plans to make more progress with the aim of tackling the crisis, he said.

"On the part of the Government, as I said in the Legislative Council debate yesterday and the day before, we've already had various co-ordinating mechanisms in place.

"But I've now decided to really go one step forward, to reinforce our efforts on that score, by making sure that our responses are well co-ordinated and make sure they're effective and robust enough to tackle the present crisis.

“A good example is that we are not just helping Police, I think we are now ensuring that all departments, all bureaus are clamping down on violence, tackling violence as the number one priority."

Mr Cheung used President Xi Jinping's words to promote peace in Hong Kong.

"As President Xi Jinping said yesterday, putting an end to violence and restoring law and order is the overwhelming priority of the entire Government, entire Hong Kong community.

“It's not just the Government alone, Hong Kong's number one priority now is to really put an end to this violence and also restore peace and order to Hong Kong. So we are doing it on all fronts and in a very serious fashion."