10
Political system to be ultimately determined by NPC
As a matter of fact, there are clear-cut provisions for Hong Kong's political system in the Sino-British Agreement. The direction which this system will take and the effective date are
clearly set out in paragraphs 2, 3, 5 and 8 of the Agreement. Paragraph 8 stipulates that the Sino-British Agreement shall enter
into force on the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification,
that is, May 1985, and the political, legal and economic systems as
well as lifestyle which will "remain unchanged for fifty years" are the systems and lifestyle at the time when the Agreement entered into force. These systems and lifestyle as well as China's policies
towards Hong Kong will be "stipulated, in a Basic Law of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China,
by the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China,
and they will remain unchanged for 50 years" in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3(12) of the Agreement. In other words, the development of Hong Kong's political system is ultimately determined by the Chinese National People's Congress and the Basic Law of the
Special Administrative Region, not the representative government of the
British.
Over the past two years, Chinese officials have adopted a
low-key approach towards the Hong Kong Government's moves towards a representative government and 're turning the reins of government to the people' by using such words as "no comment", "I have nothing to
say" and "this is a matter for the British" Such an approach could
have given certain hardliners in the Hong Kong Government on illusion that the Chinese side will give way and allow the territory's political system to undergo repeated changes, and will finally be forced to
accept it.
Nevertheless, the more sensible within the Hong Kong Government could perceive that one could not easily make use of loopholes in the
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