notions which are not only not observed throughout the PRC. They are notions which are in sharp conflict with traditional Chinese approaches to law, the individual and society which
antedate the Communist Revolution by more than 2400 years.
But, it is said, for fifty years Hong Kong will be
guaranteed the
legal system which
continuance
of the
is
important
to
its
commercial
success
as well as to its
citizens' lifestyle.
territories"
That success was seen as vital both for
especially
the commercial value of Hong Kong (with its high level of
foreign investment earnings) and as a model for other "lost
64 Taiwan.
Following the
Tiananmen Square incident in June 1989,
1989, the
the suppression of
the democracy movement, the trials and executions which
followed, there is
is now less optimism about respect for the
basic rights, judicial independence and the rule of law based
upon this ground. In the big picture of China, Hong Kong is
relatively a small concern.
rn.65
SUBORDINATION TO THE LAW OF CHINA
Lawyers point to the fact that the Basic Law of
Hong Kong is made, just as the Joint Declaration promised,
"in accordance with the Constitution of the Peoples' Republic
of China". What is done under that Constitution may readily
be undone. All that stands in the way is not law but a
promise. The breach of a treaty with the United Kingdom
would be involved. But, should that happen, it scarcely
likely that a Kuwait-style operation would be mounted to
enforce that aspect of international law against the PRC.
that:
Article 5 of the Constitution of the PRC, 1982 provides
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