Pa
HUD 385 Foreign and Commonwealth Office
RECEIVER.
OCAISTRY
INDIA
From The Minister of State
12 NOV 1987
GISTRY
-ution Taken
London SW1A 2AH
6 November 1987
Mr family
Wa..
Final text tel'd to HK, with commentary.
1%,
dea, Lard winchilsen,
HONG KONG: STATUS OF PRISONERS AFTER 1997
Thank you for your letter of 14 October
Before I respond to the specific matters which you raise, I would like to comment on the quotation from the study of the "Hong Kong Agreement" made by the US Library of Congress. Of course, the People's Republic of China is a sovereign state, the National People's Congress, is, under the Constitution of the PRC, a sovereign legislature and the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has, under the Constitution, the power of interpretation of statutes. But the PRC has entered into binding legal obligations in the Joint Declaration in relation to the position and status of Hong Kong after China resumes sovereignty over the territory. Those obligations provide for a wide measure of autonomy and in particular a continuation of the present judicial and legal system of Hong Kong. The British Government, having concluded such an agreement with the PRC, have no reason to believe that the PRC will not abide by it.
Article 31 of the Constitution of the PRC enables the state to establish in a Special Administrative Region systems appropriate to the specific conditions of the Region. It is clear from press reports that the draft of the Basic Law now being prepared will provide that the "systems" to be applied in the Hong Kong SAR will include the present judicial system of Hong Kong. Bearing in
The Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham
Liberal Peers Room
House of Lords
LONDON
SW1A OPW
/mind
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