18 -
(6)
The agreement reached by the Joint Liaison Group on the composition of the Court of Final Appeal is
contrary to the Joint Declaration and the Basic
Law and is constitutionally invalid; the Court of
Final Appeal itself should be allowed to determine
the number and identity of foreign judges to sit as temporary members.
Comment : It is not accepted as a matter of law
that the JLG agreement is in breach of
the Joint Declaration.
Public
the
Order and
Emergency (Chapter XI). What is said in
first complete paragraph on page 94 about Article 18 of the Basic Law is a matter of opinion which many would not share. Any government would wish to have the ultimate say
on whether a state of turmoil exists in a part of its sovereign territory and what action should be taken to deal with that situation (e.g. United Kingdom and Northern
of course a provision such as this is open to abuse but if it is abused the United Kingdom will be able to take it up with the PRC under the Joint Declaration. The Commission's arguments here ignore the realities of the
Ireland).
situation.
The Secretary for Constitutional Affairs comments
"Permanent
conscription
residents of the SAR are not subject to
There are no specific references in the JD/BL.
However, the Chinese side were reported to have made statements on no conscription."