}
Sir John Stanley
94.
The Governor of Hong Kong's proposals for democracy in Hong
Kong, both at the local level and at the LegCo level have been placed fully
in the public domain. I would like to ask you whether in your view, as
independent legal experts there are any specific proposals within them that
are, in your view, in breach of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law as
the Chinese Government have alleged?
In relation to the
(Mr Duffy) Perhaps I could begin on this issue.
proposals that Governor Patten has put forward these need to be assessed
against the framework of the mutual obligations of China and Britain under
the Treaty which the Joint Declaration is. The Joint Declaration clearly
indicated a framework of measures which are going to be in force in Hong
Kong after sovereignty is transferred in 1997. That includes specifically
in Annex 1.1 to the Joint Declaration that the legislature of the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by elections.
In 1984
of course that was not the manner in which the legislature in Hong Kong was
constituted and one is in a period of transition. The Basic Law itself
contains certain transitional elements though they need to be developed.
The position of the British Government is that by virtue of paragraph 4 of
the Joint Declaration, as has been mentioned in the evidence that the
Foreign Office gave, Britain has the responsibility for the administration
of Hong Kong between 1984 and 1997. That responsibility includes a
responsibility to administer it so that it will move in the direction of
the Joint Declaration and in the direction in other words of having a
legislature which is constituted by elections. From that point of view it
seems to me that the proposals that have been put forward are reasonable
proposals that fit within that framework and which could not be shown to be
any breach of the obligations of Her Majesty's Government under the Joint
Quite the reverse. The proposals that have been made are
Declaration.
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