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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL · 13 July 1988
members of the Basic Law Drafting Committee, whether they are members from China or from Hong Kong, will equally attach importance to opinions expressed by Members of this Council.
In the past three years the Basic Law Drafting Committee has conducted seven plenary sessions and numerous subgroup meetings, in order to draft the Basic Law. According to my observation, no matter whether they are Chinese drafters or Hong Kong drafters, they want to follow closely the letter as well as the spirit of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong's future, to follow the concept on ‘one-country, two-systems' and to provide a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong so that Hong Kong people are able to continue to enjoy social stability as well as prosperity. At the beginning, because Members from both parties come from different social and political systems, they have different ways to conduct meetings, to conduct business and to interpret terms as well as words. Nevertheless, through exchanges between both sides, as well as owing to the more liberal policies in China, such differences are getting closer and closer. As a result, Members attained consensus in many areas.
In the past three years, no matter whether it is the plenary session or the subgroup meetings, people from the mass media in Hong Kong have worked hard to cover the content of the meetings. So they have made accurate reports to Hong Kong residents. I think this is very important and deserves our thanks. If we still stick to previous understanding in order to interpret the present situation, this is unrealistic. Concerning the Hong Kong drafters, if we hold different opinions, this is quite obvious and is a good thing. However, I would like to emphasise that every Member has the same objective, that is, for the benefit of the Hong Kong future. Even though we may have differences, such differences have been reduced. I have experienced that the biggest difference can be turned to consensus after a certain period of time.
After the publication of the draft Basic Law at the end of April, the Basic Law Consultative Committee has conducted a large scale programme of publicity to collate public opinion. In fact, many members of the public have submitted opinions to the Basic Law Consultative Committee. I firmly believe that such views will be very important to the refinement of the Basic Law.
Sir, I feel that Members have different opinions of the Basic Law because of several issues. First of all, it is a matter of confidence. Secondly, it is the interpretation of the scope of 'one-country, two-systems', the exercise of sovereignty as well as the high degree of autonomy. Thirdly, should the Basic Law be concise or should be in great detail, and should policy issues be included in the Basic Law.
I feel that such problems can be resolved. First, judging from the social changes in Hong Kong in the past 10 years, many problems have been overcome due to the hard work of the Hong Kong people. If we are able to tackle this issue from a rational as well as pragmatic angle, I think the confidence problem can be resolved. Secondly, if we try to consider opinions expressed by various