HK has infrastructure in place for post-97 - Tsang .
AUCKLAND 1996-08-30
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Donald Tsang said on Friday that the territory had the " infrastructural hardware " to make a success of its future under Chinese sovereignty from mid-1997 .
" We have the largest and most efficient port on the South China coast ; we have the best transport and telecommunications infrastructure in the world ; and we are investing in this hardware on an enormous scale , " Tsang said in a speech to Auckland during a visit to New Zealand .
Hong Kong also had the necessary " constitutional infrastructure " in place , with the promise of autonomy in running its affairs after the handover from Britain to China .
" What this means in practice is that Hong Kong will go on raising its own taxes , issuing its own currency , setting its own expenditure priorities and managing its own enormous financial reserves , " Tsang said .
He acknowledged that many Hong Kong people had decided to seek their future elsewhere and others were sure to follow in the next nine months . "
But for the great majority of us , Hong Kong is our home and Hong Kong 's future is our future . "
-- Wellington newsroom 64 4 473-4746