Beijing much scope to influence the composition of the Committee and
therefore the selection of the Chief Executive.
The Basic Law limits foreign passport holders in the Legislative
Council to 20 per cent, or 12 out of 60 seats, a restriction not
found in the Joint Declaration, which merely provides that the
legislature shall be composed of local inhabitants without mentioning
nationality or right of foreign abode.
The Basic Law gives the National People's Congress, not Hong Kong,
power to decide if there is a state of emergency. Thus, it is the
Central People's Government in Beijing, not the Special
Administrative Region Government in Hong Kong, that can declare
martial law. This runs contrary to the principle of a "high degree
of autonomy" for Hong Kong and enables the National People's Congress
to apply the relevant emergency laws of the PRC to Hong Kong.
Before the Basic Law was passed, the Tiananmen incident of June 1989
occurred and dealt a severe blow to confidence in Hong Kong. As a result,
Britain reacted swiftly by adopting three measures to restore confidence.
These were
a more rapid pace of democratization, enactment of a Bill of
Rights and introduction of the British Nationality Scheme.
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