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Policy towards Preliminary Working Committee
Following is a question by the Hon Lee Wing-tat and a reply by the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, Mr Nicholas Ng, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
In the agreement on the Court of Final Appeal issue between the British and Chinese sides, the British side has agreed to amend the Court of Final Appeal Bill on the basis of the eight suggestions made by the Preliminary Working Committee of the Preparatory Committee (PWC) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council whether there is any change in its policy towards the PWC; if so, what the new policy is; if not, why not?
Reply:
Mr President,
The Preliminary Working Committee is a body established by the Chinese National People's Congress to tender advice to the Chinese Government. As such, there is no formal relationship between the Committee and either the Hong Kong Government or the British Government.
But no formal relationship does not mean no contact. The work of the Committee is related to Hong Kong's future and the transition. We take the view that it would be appropriate to provide them with information to help them understand different aspects of Hong Kong. As Members are aware, we do have contacts with the Preliminary Working Committee through a variety of channels. Where they have sought information from the Hong Kong Government, we have invariably responded, and we will continue to do so.
As for the Court of Final Appeal, the various suggestions of the Political Affairs Sub-group of the Preliminary Working Committee were largely consistent with our own proposals. We, therefore, indicated our willingness to pursue these suggestions, in much the same way as we would have considered views from other bodies which commented on the establishment of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. Also, we understood from the Chinese side that they, too, believed that the Preliminary Working Committee suggestions provided a useful basis to take forward the discussion on the question of the Court of Final Appeal. What happened afterwards is, of course, a matter of public record: the agreement we eventually reached with the Chinese side provides, among other things, that we would amend the Court of Final Appeal Bill on the basis of the eight suggestions published by the Political Affairs Sub-group of the Preliminary Working Committee.
End/Wednesday, June 28, 1995