TNAG-1397-FCO40-1869-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1985 — Page 3

Three Basic Policies.

3. It is the aim of the government to preserve and improve the prosperity and stability of the people of Hong Kong. As the economic driving force is to be found among the people and not in the government the first basic policy must be that the government should allow people to go about thetr business and private affairs with as little interference and control as possible.

4. As it is private economic activity that creates wealth, the government should not draw off for public services no more than a small proportion of the wealth produced. The second basic policy is that taxation must be kept low.

5. While private enterprise must be free to create wealth, and while the government should draw off only a small proportion of this wealth for public services, the economy is growing so the third basic policy is that the government should improve and expand public services in parallel with the growing wealth of Hong Kong.

Restraint in Intervention in Private Affairs.

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6. Perhaps the most important feature of this aspect of policy is the preservation of basic freedoms "including freedom of the person, of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, to form and join trade unions, of correspondence, of travel, of movement, of strike, of demonstration, of choice of occupation, of academic research, of belief, inviolability of the home, the freedom to marry and the right to raise a family freely" as in Article XIII of Annex ! to the Joint Declaration.

7. On the other hand some regulation of private affairs is inevitable in any modern society. This applies to the maintenance of public order, the regulation of practices in certain important sectors of the economy, e.g. banking and the stock exchanges, to saftey measures in industrial undertakings, to certain basic terms of employment, to the containment of pollution, and to the regulation of privately owned public utilities.

8. Some regulation is necessary and, from time to time, especially in difficult or unusual circumstances, new regulation is required. Any new measures need very full justification. It should not be assumed that any regulation which was necessary in the past will continue to be needed indefinitely. Regulation should be reduced when possible and not intensified.