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and may recruit British and other foreign nationals holding permanent identity cards of the HKSAR to serve as public servants at all levels, except as heads of major government departments (corresponding to branches or departments at Secretary level) including the police department, and as deputy heads of some of those departments"; "The court of final appeal may as
required invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on the court of final appeal"; "The HKSAR will
enjoy a high degree of autonomy".
Who are the local inhabitants? They are not, of course, people sent from Mainland China. But the vague term "Hongkong people" cannot give us a full
picture of the meaning in the Joint Declaration.
Foreign nationals holding British passports cannot
"rule Hong Kong" even though they have lived here for
a long time and possess documents entitling them to
permanent residence. In other words, they cannot serve as the chief executive or even officers at Secretary
level.
They can only act as advisers or public servants.
What Lu Ping meant was that China still upholds the spirit of "Hongkong people ruling Hong Kong", but more accuracy would be needed when writing the idea into legal documents.
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