XN000022-1997-01-23 — Page 16

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Secondly, we would be left in a situation in which there were provisions of the International Covenants which were directly contradictory to the laws on the Hong Kong Statute Book, and that would be bound to lead to one legal challenge after another in Hong Kong's courts. It is also, of course, the case that some provisions of the Basic Law - for example those that deal with freedom of assembly and freedom of association would be contravened by Bills being put back on to the Statute Book which have been amended or changed precisely because of our concerns about their relationship to the International Covenants.

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So the whole thing would create, in our judgment, a terrible legal muddle. It would mean, inevitably, that the early months of the SAR Government would be dominated by battles fought out in Hong Kong's courtrooms. And I can't for the life of me think how that is thought to be for the good of Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. We hear quite a lot about Hong Kong being too politicised these days. If you want to know how to really politicise Hong Kong, follow that course of action.

So quite apart from the fact, as I said, that these proposals seem to us to be in breach of the International Covenants and therefore a challenge to what has been promised in the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, they are also in breach of all good sense and they are clearly in breach of what is in the best interests of Hong Kong.

Mr Sin Chung-kai (in Chinese); Mr Governor, there is a comment saying that the Provisional Legislature could immediately legislate to restore the colonial laws, for example the original Public Order Ordinance and Societies Ordinance. If that is the case, would that constitute a breach of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law?

Governor: My first observation is, I am not quite sure why it is that anybody should want the first act of the SAR Government after the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty to be to put out of date so-called colonial laws on the Statute Book, laws which are no longer appropriate to a sophisticated modern city like Hong Kong. But precisely whether anything is in breach of the Joint Declaration or in breach of the International Covenants depends, I suppose, on what precisely is done and what precisely the law says. But it is incredibly difficult to imagine how putting a law back on the Statute Book which had been taken off the Statute Book because it was in contravention of the International Covenant, could be other than in contravention of the International Covenant. And the Chinese side have signed-up to the International Covenants being applied to Hong Kong, both in the Joint Declaration and in the Basic Law.