HND 383/
RECEIV
GGI FY
2 7 AUG 1987
OFSX OFFICER
PA
Ꮀ
Action raken
с
Н
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
24 August 1987
Jer how winduntzan,
도
The
Thank you for your letter of 10 August to Simon Glenarthur, who is currently on holiday. issues you raise are complex. But, so far as I understand correctly your concerns, I believe I can offer you reassurance on a number of important points.
First, after 1997 Hong Kong, as Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC, will have a separate legal system from that of the rest of the PRC. It will retain its own laws and an independent judiciary and prosecuting authority. The Sino-British Joint Declaration is absolutely explicit in this respect. The courts of the SAR will be obliged to decide cases in accordance with the SAR's laws. In short, the Hong Kong SAR will be a separate juridical system.
You are concerned at the possibility that a fugitive offender from Hong Kong, returned before 1997 to the territory under the Fugitive Offenders Act 1967, may become subject to the criminal code of the PRC from that date and, perhaps, face the death penalty for the offence he committed. If a fugitive offender is returned to Hong Kong under the FOA before 1997, it would be in respect of an offence against the laws of Hong Kong and would be a matter for the Hong Kong courts. It would not be for an offence against the laws of the PRC. Hong Kong courts will not be relying on the PRC criminal code after 1997 because, as I have said, Hong Kong will retain its separate legal system.
The Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham
Liberal Peers Room
House of Lords
LONDON
SW1A OPW