Tung told a group of Chinese mainland journalists in Hong Kong that over the past two decades great changes have taken place in the country, China's international stature has kept rising, and China's overall national strength has increased substantially.

"Every Chinese is proud of these great achievements the country has made, and Hong Kong residents are also very happy," Tung stressed.

Tung said, "President Jiang Zemin's three hopes for Hong Kong at the celebrations of the 5th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland are sincere words and earnest wishes, and will encourage us to do an even better job."

From a broader point of view, Tung said that in addition to being good at doing business, "small government," high degree of transparency, sound legal system and spirit of hard-working, the most important factor that contributes to Hong Kong's success in the past decades is the close link to other parts of the motherland.

Tung said, Hong Kong had been the bridge between the mainland and the outside world before China's reforms and opening up, and after that, Hong Kong has transferred its manufacture industry gradually into the Pearl River Delta and become an international center of finance, trade and services, information, transportation and tourism.

Hong Kong has benefited much from this close link to the mainland, he stressed.

Entering the 21st century, China has become a country opening wider to the outside world, drawing more foreign investment. Facing the rapid development of the mainland, the only choice for Hong Kong is to do a better job than others, he said.

Speaking of the implementation of the accountability system for principal officials, Tung said the first and foremost is to know more about the will of the people, on which policy-making should be based.

Also important are the establishment of an order of priority of policy-making, enhancement of the functions of the central policy department, and realignment of the more than 400 consultative institutions, he said.

"We must restructure our economy because Hong Kong is facing the pressure of globalization," Tung said. Greater efforts should be made to promote the development of creative technology and construction of science parks to attract more multinational companies, he added.

( July 3, 2002)