both the Executive and Legislative Councils); the other seeks to represent grassroots interests, and has been set up by a group of Christian social workers.
Grassroots and community organisations are actively exploring ways of cooperating more effectively on political issues, and a number are trying to form political coalitions. After the last District Board elections they can claim to represent significant numbers of voters. About 90% of the 60-70 candidates they supported were elected. The grassroots groups are all committed to direct elections and the introduction of an accountable democracy in Hong Kong, and claim that the majority of Hong Kong's people would support reforms in this direction.
Implementation of the
Anglo-Chinese Agreement
The Anglo-Chinese Agreement has been hailed by both sides as a historic diplomatic success. But the real test has yet to come the actual implementation of the terms of the Agreement.
Effective implementation in 1997 will depend on progress made during the transition period. Three or four bodies set up jointly by the British and Chinese governments, or by the Chinese government alone, will be vital in these years. They include the Joint Liaison Group (JLG), the Land Commission, the Drafting Committee on the Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR, and lastly the Consultative Committee on the Basic Law.
The Joint Liaison Group (JLG)
The JLG is the official forum within which China and Britain will consult about matters related to implementation of the Agreement. It will meet in confidence. This means that, as during the Anglo-Chinese negotiations during 1982-84, the two governments will be discussing matters of intimate concern to the people of Hong Kong, without being accountable to them though it is expected that members of the Executive Council and a few individuals will be kept informed by the single senior Hong Kong official who has been appointed to the JLG.
Lessons should be learned from the crises of public confidence which were caused by lack of information during the secret negotiations between 1982 and 1984. Confidentiality does not necessarily reassure public opinion, or necessarily protect the negotiators from external ssures. The JLG should report regularly on its discussions and the British authorities should undertake to consult the public, and their
6
elected representatives on issues under discussion which concern their welfare and interests.
The Basic Law
The Anglo-Chinese Agreement states that "the basic policies of the PRC regarding Hong Kong... will be stipulated, in a Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC, by the National Congress of the PRC, and they will remain unchanged for 50 years." The Basic Law of the Hong Kong SAR will be the principal constitutional instrument governing the relations between Hong Kong and China.
For this reason, considerable attention in Hong Kong has been given to drafting of the Basic Law. The members of the Drafting Committee of the Basic Law were announced in June 1985, and it met for the first time in July. Twenty three of its fifty nine members are Hong Kong people; the great majority represent business and professional interests. At the first meeting, the chairperson of the committee, Ji Pengfei (also in charge of the Hong Kong and Macau Office of China's State Council), spelled out the time-table of the drafting process. It is expected that the first draft will be produced by 1988, and the final draft completed in 1990, after full consultation with the people of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong members of the Drafting Committee are also responsible for establishing a Consultative Committee, whose members will all come from Hong Kong. They will decide how members of this Committee will be selected and what powers, if any, it should have.
Constitutionally, the drafting of the Basic Law is an internal matter for the Chinese government. Britain has no claim to participate in the process. Since the Anglo-Chinese Agreement refers formally to the drafting of the Basic Law, however, the British government has a right and duty to monitor the process.
Furthermore, the Basic Law will have a significant bearing on political reform in Hong Kong. As part of its duty to carry out the demands for democratic reform in Hong Kong, the British government should communicate these demands to the Chinese government so that reforms in the near future will be in harmony with the Basic Law in the long term. The need to channel these demands has become more acute, since it is now apparent that almost all Hong Kong members of the Drafting Committee will represent the views of the professional and business sections of the society.
It is precisely for this reason that grassroots organisations in Hong Kong are now arguing that the Consultative Committee should be
7
1