HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
18 May 1988
1423
principle of freedom of expression, the SAR Administration under the Chinese flag after 1997 cannot be trusted to pay heed to this important principle as enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They have indeed deployed stunning persuasive tactics for such arguments, playing up and appealing to the fears of our people over the uncertainties associated with the change of sovereignity in 1997. I can well understand those fears but we must ask ourselves, hon. Members, whether for the good of the community at large, we should allow ourselves to be so overridden by fears as to lose sight of the need to make assessments and decisions on a rational and pragmatic basis.
Everyone understands that the 'one-country-two-system' is a novel concept and Hong Kong will not be the only Special Administration Region of China in future. The success of the Hong Kong SAR will have an important bearing on the issue of total unification of China and the road of total unification is a long and hard one. Given our unique circumstance as the first major experiment of this concept and in considering the 'damage good relations' clause in this Bill, should we not ponder whether, without this clause, Hong Kong might unwittingly be open to the risk of becoming a battleground for opposing political propaganda warfare? Should not the Administration, now or even after 1997, be given the necessary power to minimise such risks that have the effect of destabilising Hong Kong?
Finally, Sir, the ad hoc group did recognise the concern that the powers conferred on the Administration might be open to abuse now or after 1997. We have sought to inject the necessary checks and balances into the structure. The composition of the board of review is one of the proposals unanimously supported by all Members. Additional checks and balances will be proposed by the convener of the group to require the censor to take into account the principle of freedom of expression as promulgated in the covenant. Our convener will explain in more details later, this clause does have the necessary binding legal force to ensure that the censor and the Administration will not disregard lightly such important principle. Sir, we have gone a long way from where we started and I am totally satisfied that the Bill before Council today, together with the hon. YEUNG Po-kwan's proposed amendments, constitute an acceptable package to Hong Kong.
Sir, I support the Bill.
MRS. CHOW: Sir, I support the film classification system contained in the Bill so long as its practice complies with the Administration's stated intention that it is a liberalising move to enable footage, which under the present censorship standards, would be either excised or banned, to be shown to audiences aged 18 or above in the future. It has been put by the trade that there are signs of the tightening of standards relating to sex and violence now in anticipation of the passage of this Bill. If this has happened, I can understand why. The Adminis- tration has assured that films currently marked unsuitable for children will all be classified as category II films without legal restrictions on age in the future.