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Mr Cof Hong Kong Department
MACAO BASIC LAW (DRAFT)
1.
Reference
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I Sainty Mr Riorday08/8 No Stone 12/8
in Macao.
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M
70
олий Раяса
Macao may escape more lightly than HK: the Chriese are not committed to pulling a PLA garnison
기 You asked in your minute of 5 August whether there was any indication in the Macao Basic Law concerning the stationing of a PLA garrison in Macao. The references to defence matters in the Macao Basic Law are comparatively brief. Article 14 states that: "the Central People's Government shall be responsible for the defence of the Macao SAR. The Macao SAR Government shall be responsible for the maintenance of public order in the region". The corresponding Article in the Hong Kong Basic Law adds after these two introductory sentences: "military forces stationed by the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong SAR for defence shall interfere in the local affairs of the region. The Government of the Hong Kong SAR may, when necessary, ask the Central People's Government for assistance from the garrison in the maintenance of public order and in disaster relief. In addition to abiding by national laws, members of the garrison shall abide by the laws of the Hong Kong SAR. Expenditure for the garrison shall be borne by the Central People's Government".
2.
It can be seen from this that whereas the Hong Kong Basic Law contains specific references to the existence of a Chinese garrison in Hong Kong after 1997, there is no corresponding reference in the Macao Basic Law. It would seem particularly significant and there is no provision for dealing with the expenditure for the garrison. There are very similar differences between the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and the Joint Declaration on Macao. Thus the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong states that, "military forces sent by the Central People's Government to be stationed in the Hong Kong SAR for the purpose of defence shall not interfere in the internal affairs of the Hong Kong SAR. Expenditure for these military forces shall be borne by the Central People's Government" (JD 148 and 149). These references do not appear in the corresponding Article of the Macao Joint Declaration which states merely that, "the Central People's Government shall be responsible for the defence of the Macao SAR".
3.
I have coincidentally been working on a translation of a book, published in Peking in 1990, which analyses in some detail various aspects of Hong Kong's Basic Law. It argues very strongly that the stationing of troops in Hong Kong after 1997 is a requirement for China's national defence and is a reflection of China's state sovereignty over Hong Kong. At one stage it even argues that, "if there were no garrison, the resumption of sovereignty would be an empty phrase". Part of the argument in this book is based on the detailed provisions in JD 148 and 149 to which I referred above. It is possible that a Chinese commentator would not argue the case for stationing a PLA garrison in Macao quite so strongly as that for Hong Kong.
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