BASIC LAW DRAFTING COMMITTEE
MEDIA COVERAGE, COMMENTS AND REACTION
WEDNESDAY, 19 JUNE, 1985
Coverage
The formal announcement of the Basic Law drafting committee membership list was the lead story in all media today. Reporting was factual and many papers carried biographical notes on the members as well as the initial thinking of the HK members about their job. The leading left-wing Wen Wei Po published a two-page report giving detailed biographies of each member. The membership list drew favourable reaction from the public and was the subject of editorial comment in six papers, including Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao.
An NCNA report said the committee would meet for the first time in Peking early next month. ATV said the first meeting would be held on July 1 or 2 and the session would last one week. Committee members would be briefed on the drafting work and would decide on an agenda. According to sources, the committee would meet twice each year.
The HK Standard said mystery surrounded the terms of reference and tenure of the committee and the SCM Post quoted sources as suggesting that members might later form themselves into groups to deal with specific topics. However, the Standard added that it was important to check whether HK members were accountable to local interests.
The Post said local members of the committee pledged wholehearted contribution to the well-being of a post-1997 HK in the spirit of the Joint Declaration. They said they would bear in mind the important task of maintaining stability and prosperity as well as various freedoms.
A source quoted by the HK Daily News said originally the NCNA HK branch had drawn up a list of 24 HK members including Senior Exco Unofficial Sir Sze-yuen Chung. In proposing the inclusion of Sir Sze-yuen, NCNA assumed that he would retire from Exco and would sit on the committee purely as an individual holding no public office. When he was recently reappointed to Exco for three more years, some influential local NPC delegates said if Sir Sze-yuen was appointed to the committee while retaining the title of Senior Exco Unofficial, his views would be predominant among the HK members on the committee. Peking therefore agreed to exclude Sir Sze-yuen.
Legco Unofficial Wong Po-yan, who was on the membership list, said it was regrettable that Sir Sze-yuen was not included, the HK Economic Journal reported.