In the movie, several millions of refugees fled their villages and towns to go to Xi’an（西安）, where they hoped they could find food and help, but most of them did not make it and perished during the long journey. In desperation, many parents sold their children for a tiny sum of money or just a bowl of rice in order to survive a few more days. The movie presented graphically a shocking story, a tragedy of the very harsh reality and unspeakable human sufferings endured by our parents’ generation not that long ago. 3. Well, this very depressing and horrible scene was only a movie. We now live in a comfortable world in which food is abundant and there is no shortage of daily necessities. Most of us take good lives for granted. The ugly and unpleasant scenes of parents selling their children as depicted in the movie “1942” were something of the past and do not seem to have any relevance in modern times. Is it so? 4. For those of us who are parents, we are absolutely convinced and determined that we will do our utmost to protect our children. We will give them nothing but the best that we can afford so that they have a good life and a bright future. All of us here would find it unthinkable why any parents would want to give away or mortgage their children. So, why should I choose this subject for tonight’s theme?
There were, I think, times when the pessimists among us wondered whether there would be the resources, and the will, for this initiative to get off the ground. But, thanks to the enormous effort and co-operation among those involved, implementation, over the course of the next few years, appears now to be very much a certainty. Over the past few months, regulators around the world, including those in this region, have been setting out the approaches they intend to adopt in implementing Basel II, and banks have been preparing themselves energetically for implementation. Approaches vary from one jurisdiction to another: one of the key features of Basel II is its flexibility. In Hong Kong, our aim is to switch over to Basel II at the start of 2007, in line with the approach being adopted in other major international financial centres, and of the Basel Committee members themselves. We see value in being among the first in adopting Basel II, not only because of the intrinsic merits of the New Accord, but also because this city has one of the highest concentrations of banking institutions in the world, with a strong presence of international banking groups. Many people all over the world have been involved in Basel II. But there is no-one more qualified to speak on the subject than our guest today. Governor Caruana is the current Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.