This scientific formulation is an important development in Marxism. It has enriched the meaning of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. It has established the ideological foundations for the peaceful re-unification of the Motherland. It is an important guiding principle for our country's socialist legal construction. The idea of practicing "one country two systems" in China is not a subjective idea but was developed from China's actual circumstances on the basis of seeking truth from facts, and it came into being step by step following the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. In
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certain respects one can also say that it was a continuation and development, under new historical circumstances of the policy the Chinese Government has been pursuing towards Hong Kong since foundation of the PRC. Since the founding of the new China, Chinese Government had often made it clear that Hong Kong was Chinese territory, and that unequal treaties were forced upon China by foreign countries. China advocated that such questions left over from history should be solved peacefully through negotiations and up until then the existing situation should temporarily preserved. However the idea of "one country two systems" was first developed for solving the Taiwan question. New Year 1979, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress published its "Letter to Taiwan Compatriots" in which it announced our guidelines for the peaceful re-unification of the country. On National Day 1981, Ye Jianying, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, announced his nine points on re-unification (see People's Daily of 1 October 1981). In this, he pointed out for the first time that: after China had been re-unified Taiwan could be a special administrative region enjoying a high level of autonomy. It could keep its armed forces; Taiwan's current socio-economic system would remain unchanged, as would its way of life and economic and cultural relations with foreign countries. Although Chairman Ye Jianying's nine points did not specifically refer to "one country two systems", in fact it was a product of the idea of "one country two systems" In September 1982, Chairman Deng Xiaoping of the Central Advisory Commission raised the formula of one country two systems for the first time when he met the British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher. He said that the principle of "one country two systems" could be used for the recovery of sovereignty over Hong Kong. In accordance with this the Chinese Government began to lay down its basic line and principles for Hong Kong. In December the same year, the fifth Session of the fifth National People's Congress passed the "Constitution of the People's Republic of China" which reflected this thinking very clearly. Article 31 stipulated that "the state may establish special administrative regions when necessary. The systems to be instituted in special administrative regions shall be prescribed by law, enacted by the NPC in the light of specific conditions". This therefore provided legal basis for China to carry out one country two systems", establish special administrative regions in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, and to follow policies and systems different from those on the mainland once China had accomplished and regained sovereignty over those regions.
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The constitutional provisions on setting up special administrative regions are important provisions derived from China's history and present conditions. They need to meet the needs of