Chinese Central Government, in the course of setting up a consultative council in Hong Kong with regard to the drafting of Basic Law, should consider the following principles:
- With the assistance of the existing Hong Kong Government, elections may be held for the purpose of recruiting members into the Con- sultative Council. This is to ensure that the Council should have a representative element. The result of the consultation should be disclosed to the Hong Kong people. The report of the consultative council, before being submitted to the Chinese Central Government, should be published and subject to full discussion and criticism by the Hong Kong people.
(b) The time schedule for the drafting of the Basic
Law:
- If the Basic Law is to be made at too early a date, such as before 1990, then the lawmakers may fail to take into account any political deve- lopment and social change in Hong Kong in the later years.
- If the Basic Law is to be made at too late a date, say as late as 1995 or 1996, then many people may have lost confidence due to prolonged uncertainly in the future of Hong Kong.
(c) The time schedule for the making of the Basic
Law:
In order to solve the difficult problems as stated above, we may consider adopting a time schedule
A
as follows:
-
The drafting of the Basic Law should be comp- leted within four to five years from the date of the conclusion of the Sino-British Agreement.
- Before 1990, the NPC shall pass the Basic Law with a provision that before it comes into effect in 1997, Hong Kong people may propose amend- ments thereto by way of a referendum.
- In 1996, the Basic Law shall come into effect upon its being passed by the Hong Kong people in a referendum.
This procedure would fully take into account the problems as aforementioned and further serve to legitimize the Basic Law by the mandate of the Hong Kong people. This is certainly consistent with the principle of self-rule as permitted by the Central Government. We must emphasize that the referendum of the Hong Kong people as sug- gested is only a formal channel by which Hong Kong people may express their views on the political system of the self-rule of Hong Kong. This shall in no way be used to question the basic principle of National Unification.
All the above 10 problems should be adequately con- sidered and dealt with before a Basic Law, generally accept- able and satisfactory to the Hong Kong people, can be made. As regards how detailed the Basic Law should be and what other matters should be left to ordinary legislation is another controversial question.
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