TNAG-1722-FCO40-2415-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1988 — Page 183

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HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL · 14 July 1988

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instance, the view of this Council on the Basic Law needs to be collated and then presented to the Chinese Government through diplomatic channels. That is rather indirect. However, the Council still decides to go ahead with the debate. On the one hand, in speaking up we are performing our duty as Legislative Councillors, and on the other hand we hope that by so doing we will be able to appeal to the people of Hong Kong so that they too will pay more attention to this question of our future, which concerns them personally. And they will participate actively in discussions. In this way everyone in Hong Kong will share in our future development and aspirations.

The draft Basic Law is divided into 10 chapters and 172 articles. The scope is wide, and I will concentrate my comments on a number of more important issues.

On the whole the Basic Law can be described as complying with the basic spirit of the Joint Declaration. That is to ensure Hong Kong's political stability, social prosperity and to keep it unchanged for 50 years. These are the basic aims and basic principles, and at the same time the Basic Law will work to realise the unprecedented concept of 'one country, two systems'. Consequently in the formulation of the Basic Law, we have to balance the exercise of Chinese sovereightly and to allow a high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong. In other words, the balance of ‘one country, two systems' is the key to the Basic Law. Reading through the draft, we can see that much emphasis has been laid on Chinese sovereignty, so much so that by comparison details of some articles give one the feeling that not enough consideration has been given to the people of Hong Kong. Consequently the confidence of Hong Kong in the Basic Law has been affected.

In considering the relation between the central authorities in the region, for instance, I believe most will agree that the basic principle should be that, apart from foreign affairs and defence, the HKSAR should enjoy a high degree of autonomy. Therefore the central authorities should devolve its power and the region should respect the sovereignty of the Central Government. Such mutual respect and mutual trust will form the real basis for a good relationship between the central authorities and the region. Otherwise, even if we make the Basic Law much more detailed, it will not help the situation. Articles which have led to serious worries, such as the very controversial article 22 should either be amended or deleted. The people of Hong Kong do not really understand charges such as 'undermining national unity' or 'subverting the Central People's Government'. To insert such articles into the Basic Law without any explana- tion or definition will only add to the uneasiness of the people of Hong Kong.

Besides, it is stressed in the Joint Declaration that the Hong Kong SAR will enjoy a high degree of autonomy. The emphasis is lost in the draft. This adds to our worries, and we begin to doubt whether apart from the defence and foreign affairs, the central authorities will interfere in other affairs of the region. At the same time, the question of final adjudication is also most contraversial. It is now