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here, the restriction of their powers and whether the power of command and supervision belongs to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong should be clearly stated because all these greatly affect the rights and interests of Hong Kong people.
I have briefly stated my views above. Comments and advice from those better qualified are most welcome. I am glad that I have the opportunity to listen to your views.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks I support the motion.
MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, members of the delegation to Beijing formed by societies of HK Southern District and concerned parties on the Basic Law have exchanged opinions on various aspects of the Basic Law with officials of the Hong Kong and Macau Office and Basic Law drafters. I have just returned from Beijing yesterday. The new hierarchy of China reiterated that they will hold fast to the reform and open policies. It was guaranteed that the concept of 'one country, two systems' would materialize in 1997 when Hong Kong reverts to China. Hong Kong will be granted a high degree of autonomy as well as independence in regard to executive, legislative and judicial power while the local capitalist system will remain unchanged for 50 years. All these basic policies will remain unaltered. At the same time, they stressed 3 points:
(1) The Beijing incident is China's way of handling its own internal affairs.
It is totally unrelated to the formulation of the Basic Law.
(2) Hong Kong is not allowed to serve as a subversive base against China.
(3) People of both China and Hong Kong would be cordially consulted on the draft Basic Law in order to achieve the best result.
Mr. Chairman, it is opportune and meaningful for the Council to discuss the draft Basic Law today.
In regard to the organization of the Legislature as described in the Basic Law under the topic of political structure, I believe that any package suggested should be a gradually progressive one which suits Hong Kong's reality and takes into account the benefits of all sectors of society. It should also conform to the principle of smooth transition and be able to maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. I am always an advocator of democratization of political system. Should the democratization be well-developed, all seats of the Legislative Council would eventually be returned by general election. If we do not take into account Hong Kong's reality in developing a democratic political system, not only do we ourselves have to bear the disastrous effect, but our progeny will have to suffer as well.
The development of the political system should be gradual and not drastic. Only in this way can the stability of our society be maintained. The composition of the political structure should take into account the interests of the labour sector, the professionals as well as the industrial and commercial sectors in
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order to give full play to the hardworking spirit of Hong Kong people and to make full use of the rich resources in our society. Everybody should work in full co-operation to enhance the prosperity of Hong Kong. Therefore, apart from having seats returned by general elections, the Legislature should retain functional constituencies for a certain period of time. In deciding when to implement full-scale general elections, we should take the actual circumstances of Hong Kong into consideration to avoid making a subjective judgment. Just having high-sounding ideas about universal suffrage without paying attention to the real conditions of society will only adversely affect the high degree of autonomy and the implementation of the principle of 'one country, two systems' in Hong Kong in the future.
Mr. Chairman, with regard to the political models proposed by different sectors of society at present, I think that the first two stages of the OMELCO model are acceptable while the later two stages of the model appear to be a bit risky. As for the bicameral system and the 4.4.2 model, the advantages of the present political system are generally retained in these two proposals. Besides, the principle of gradual development, the interests of various sectors of community and the actual social conditions of Hong Kong have been taken into account. It is believed that a model which can incorporate the advantages of different models without bearing the shortcomings of any model will be worthy to be considered by the people of Hong Kong and the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law.
Mr. Chairman, I would also like to express my views on the stationing of troops. It is stipulated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration that China will station its troops in Hong Kong to demonstrate sovereignty. The fact whether troops must be stationed in Hong Kong should be decided by China itself and not by the Basic Law. As for whether stationing of troops in Hong Kong by China will affect the confidence of the people of Hong Kong, I think that we should not be too worried about that. The reason is that troops stationed here by China are mainly for defending Hong Kong and for assisting us to maintain the order and stability of our society. If no troops are stationed here, people will doubt the stability of our society instead and the confidence of investors will be affected as a result in the long run.
What the people of Hong Kong are most worried about is not the problem of stationing of troops but the discipline and quality of the troops. People are concerned about whether these troops must obey the laws of Hong Kong and whether members of these troops will be subject to not only the laws of Hong Kong but also the martial law if they are involved in civil cases where the other party is a resident of Hong Kong. Therefore, besides stipulating that the troops must obey the laws of the HKSAR, there should also be rules that prevent them from infringing the rights of the common people thus enhancing their discipline and law-abiding spirit.
With the above remarks, I support Mr. Peter CHAN's motion.