1
11
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under no obligation to introduce further legislation in
of this article. However, Article 17 itself
respect
creates an
obligation to legislate in respect of these
matters while Clause 13 which repeats the reservation says
there is no such obligation. The inclusion of these
contradictory provisions would be meaningless and we have
concluded that both Article 17 and Clause 13 of the White
Bill should be deleted.
20.
Article 22 of the White Bill referred to
citizens' rights to participate in public life. However,
the use of the term "citizen" is inappropriate for Hong
Kong because the concept of a Hong Kong citizen is unknown
to our law. What we
we need is a generic term which has a
sufficiently wide meaning to embrace the whole range of
persons in Hong Kong who now have the right to vote and to
stand for election. We have concluded that "permanent
resident" is such a term and it also mirrors the relevant
provisions in the Basic Law. We have therefore made this
substitution in the new Article 21 of
Bill. May I take
this opportunity to assure Honourable Members that all
persons who under our existing legislation have the right
to vote and stand for election will continue to enjoy
these rights.
21.
We have also changed the Chinese title of the
Bill of Rights from "RENQUAN XUANYAN" to "RENQUAN FAʼAN"
to accord with the generally accepted translation of the
term.