CONFIDENTIAL
Article 106 of the Draft Basic Law
Handed over by Sir A. Donald to Chen Ziying
on 15 March 1990
Speaking Note
been
1989
The
British side
understand
that no change has
proposed at BLDC IX to Article 106 of the February
draft. We also understand from press reports that the
this
Article
only
BLDC Special Group on the Economy were of the view that
for provided
the principles
to
be
followed in budgetary policy and was sufficiently flexible.
2.
Believe that our views on Article 106 are well
known to the Chinese side.
We have considered very
carefully the point made by Mr Lu Ping to the Governor of
Hong Kong during the latter's visit to Peking in January
The problem is one where we see a clear legal fetter
We have sought to
avoid this in the text which we have proposed to the
1990.
on the
of power
the
SAR legislature.
Chinese side (copy attached).
3.
We also note that the present Chinese text of Art.
can be open to a broader interpretation: i.e. "striving
to achieve a fiscal balance, striving to avoid deficits and
106
striving
to
ensure
the
budget
is
commensurate with GDP
growth."
that Hope
the Chinese
will give careful
consideration
to the
accuracy
of the
translation
when
taking
a
final view
on
the text of Art. 106. But must
stress that while this would go some way towards meeting
our
concerns,
it
could
still not
be
guaranteed
justiciable issues would not arise.
CONFIDENTIAL
that