PART ONE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LAW AND ADMINISTRATION
A BASIS FOR DISCUSSION BETWEEN DELEGATES FROM THE PRC, HONG KONG AND U.K.
1.1.
1.2.
I have been in Hong Kong since July for a project to be designed by the Royal Institute of Public Administration. It concerns the transition in 1997. To quote the words of the Secretary of the Civil Service from another context, its aim is based on the following belief:
"The more
...
civil servants [and, I believe, professionals, journalists, businessmen and others] know about and understand the workings of the Chinese bureaucracy [and professions] and vice versa the better it will be for both parties
We need to give more thought to arrangements specifically designed to study and learn about each other at a different level: this can only be to our mutual benefit ... For Hong Kong under its own separate system to be able to enjoy its promised high degree of autonomy to the full, requires mutual understanding and mutual
trust.
זו
This part of the paper is a proposal for a specific agenda for meetings with U.K., Hong Kong and PRC participation. I was in Beijing from 14th to 19th July, 1990. In each meeting in Beijing, I concentrated on two things: the possibilities for bilateral British-Chinese dialogue, and the need for discussion of matters of importance to people from Hong Kong, U.K. and China together. The subject matter is the Relationship between Law and Administration. My meetings there were private; accordingly, this report is being circulated only to people who will play a role, I hope, in the project.
I met the Secretary-General of the Legislative Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Mr. Yue Xiang. During 5 hours of talks, we covered a series of topics including aspects of legislative procedure, administrative law, and how the Chinese court system will develop in due course to allow officials to be taken to court in certain circumstances. We discussed the notion of the separation of powers, and how it applies rather differently in their system and in ours. It seems to me that in ours, the executive is not meant to interfere with the judiciary; while in theirs, the judiciary cannot interfere with the Party. Among other things, we discussed also the law-making power, legislative procedures, the interpretive function, and issues of fair trial, such as the independence of the judiciary. The latter is seen rather differently in China. For example, on 1st January, 1990, Ren Jianxin, President of the Supreme People's Court said that:-
"People's courts at every level must consciously accept the Party's
leadership.
The independent exercise of judicial authority by the People's courts is not the same as the 'independence of the judiciary' in capitalist countries. During last year's political