TNAG-1440-FCO40-1924-Constitutional-development-in-Hong-Kong-1986 — Page 199

ine

centralised

11

The Sino-British Agreement describes separately the

executive, legislature and judiciary. There is no provision

for any body being subordinate to any body. This ascertains

that in the future political system, the three authorities

are independent and counterbalance each other. The executive

is not subsidiary to the legislature. The U.S. political system is a typical example of the independence of the three authorities.

The US president is chosen by indirect election. Its selection

channel is different from that of the legislature. But the U.S.

is considered to be the most democratic country in the West. So it is meaningless to judge whether Hong Kong is democratic by arguing whether the Chief Executive should be elected by the legislature. The most important point is to abide by the spirit

of the Sino-British Agreement and the provisions in it on the

"one country two systems" concept.

The

But the

This

The "one country two systems" should also resolve the relationship between the central government and the local authorities. The People's Republic of China is not a federal government but a unified government. Under a unified government, the powers of the local autonomous government is vested by the central government. powers are not naturally possessed by the local government. central government exercises self-restraint and transfers the powers of the legislature, judiciary, executive, finance and external economic activities to the special administrative region government. does not affect the high degree of autonomy to be enjoyed by the Hong Kong SAR. In fact, the scope of autonomy enjoyed by members of a federal government usually does not include financial and monetary affairs, currency, tariff, basic law such as the criminal and civil codes, external trade, immigration control and final adjudication. The Hong Kong SAR is going to have all the above mentioned rights. No local autonomous region under a unified government in the world enjoys so many powers. We can say that the high degree of autonomy of the Hong Kong SAR breaks through the limit of local autonomy in

That is why many the past and creates a new and dynamic model.

scholars of political science, consitutionalism and sociology are taking up "Hong Kong studies" as their favourite research projects.