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CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS: THE CHINESE VIEW UNDER
THE NOTION OF "ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS"
Professor Gong Xiang Rui
Professor of Comparative Constitutional Law of the Beijing University; Member of International Institute of Ombudsmen
[Note from the Organizing Committee: This is an edited version which has not been approved by Professor Gong Xiang-rui]
Some Prerequisites Yet To Be Fulfilled
It is generally agreed that some prerequisites are necessary for the protection of human rights,
for "man did not wake on a summer morning and found themselves sprung up. Neither do
they resemble trees which once planted, are aye growing while men are sleeping." These
pre-requisites are necessary everywhere, and not limited to Hong Kong, as an experienced
Canadian administrator once pointed out, "It would be well to remember that declarations and
statutes proclaiming human dignity and human rights are not enough. There must also be:
(1) effective enforcement; (2) public education; and (3) strong administration, if people are
to be accorded equal opportunity in fact as well as in theory."2
This remark has reminded me of Mill's theories under which representative government, like
any other government, cannot permanently subsist if it does not fulfil three fundamental
conditions. "These were (1) that the people should be willing to receive it; (2) that they
should be willing and able to do what is necessary for its preservation; and (3) that they
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