(//www.tvsmo.com)
【大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网12月24日讯】据美国新唐人电视台 (NTDTV) 华盛顿消息﹐12月24日是香港23条立法咨询期截止日期。23条立法引起海内外华人的普遍关注﹐新唐人电视台记者23日为此采访了美国国务院民主人权和劳工部的副助理国务卿斯考特-卡频特先生。图为斯考特在接受采访中。以下为采访问答实录(译文)。

记者﹕(美国)国务院在11月22日公布了有关香港23条立法的声明﹐而在12月10日﹐中国副总理钱其琛说﹕“这不关他们的事。”这里的“他们”也包括美国政府。您对此有何评论﹖

卡频特﹕我想美国政府和其他国际社会成员一道表达了对23条立法的关注。我们这样做是有公认的利益原因的。你或许不知道吧﹐有超过五万美国人居住在香港﹐而美国在香港的固定资产也大约有290亿美元。我们确是对正在香港发生的事情关注。此外﹐我认为香港作为国际都市﹐长久以来其开放和人权保护的传统被公认。因此我们继续对香港所发生之事密切关注是十分重要的。

记者﹕美国政府主要关心哪些领域﹖

卡频特﹕我认为我们最关心的是透明度的问题。我们理解香港政府有权利也有责任考虑这些（立法）问题﹐但是市民也有权利发表意见。比如说公布法律草案以便公众可以更近一步地了解﹐我认为这一点非常重要。我想我们所关心的领域与香港市民自己所提出的关注是一样的﹐（比如）立法后是否很容易就触犯叛国或煽动罪等问题。

记者﹕明天将是立法咨询的截止日期。您是否认为美国政府可以有任何具体的措施或渠道表达这些关注﹖

卡频特﹕我认为(美国)总统已经亲自向江泽民主席非常清楚地说明该（立法）问题是美国和美国人民都关心的。我也希望（香港）民众的所有看法会被充份考虑﹐这样咨询程序才会有效地反映香港民众的声音。

英文新闻稿﹕
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Dec. 23 is the last day before the deadline of the consultation period of the proposed legislation of Article 23 in Hong Kong. New Tang Dynasty TV reporter interviewed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State from State Department of United States, Mr. J. Scott Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter is from Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

Q: State Department has issued a statement regarding Hong Kong’s Article 23 legislation on Nov. 22. While on Dec 10, China’s vice premier Qian Qichen said that “it has nothing to do with them”, this “them” included the US government. How would you respond to that?

A: I think the United States government has joined others in the international community in expressing our concerns over Article 23. And that we have recognized interest in doing so. Hong Kong, as you may or may not know, has over 50,000 American residents living there, we have combined fix assets in Hong Kong of something like 29 billion dollars. So, we do have some concern about what takes place in Hong Kong. But In addition to that, I would say Hong Kong is an international city, which has long been has recognized for its tradition of openness and protection of human rights. That is very important that we continue to pay attention and watch closely what takes place there.

Q: What are some of the key areas of the concerns for US government?

A: Well, I think what we are most concerned about is transparency. We understand that the HK government has the right and the responsibility to consider these issues, but that the citizens themselves also have a right to comment on them. And so I think it is very important that the draft legislation, for instance, be made available to people to look more closely at it. I think that the areas of concern are the same areas of concern that the Hong Kong people themselves have addressed, whether it is the ease for which treason would be raised, or other issues, sedition issues.

Q: Tomorrow is the deadline for the consultation period of the proposed legislation. So do you think there is any concrete measure or venue for the US government to voice this concern?

A: I think that the President himself made it very clear to President Jiang Zemin that this was an issue of concern for the people of the United States of America.. And so I would hope that there would be due consideration given to all points of view of the Hong Kong people so that the consultative process works effectively to give the voice to the people of Hong Kong.

(//www.dajiyuan.com)