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It is important that the outcome should
not be seen to fetter Hong Kong's
autonomy in any way. But it is ironic
surely that the text must be seen as
deficient in that respect because of its
insistence on a balanced budget and low
taxation policies something most
Western Finance Ministers would give
their eye teeth for! Who could ever
have dreamed that that that would be
one of our anxieties about the Basic
Law well-founded though it is?
There are other difficult areas still to
be resolved, such as those dealing with
the formation of the first SAR
government, and its legislature, and the
selection of the first Chief Executive.
And of course the British Government, as
co-signatories of the Joint Declaration
with the Government of China, will need
to be satisfied that the draft Basic Law
fully and accurately reflects its
provisions.
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