TNAG-1731-FCO40-2444-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 241

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In the pre-1997 period, the laws of Hong Kong should incorporate international legal practices and standards as much as possible. These laws will hopefully be inherited by the

Cal future SAR government and help, to maintain the status of Hong

Kong as an international city. I would therefore encourage that appropriate steps be taken to write into Hong Kong's legislation binding commitments based on international agreements. The reference to Article 19 of the International le. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the film censorship legislation is a good example to be followed. Legal systems of the western world, which have taken centuries to develop, must be superior to what exists in China, which remained an absolute monarchy without the rule of law until about seventy years ago. It will be of advantage to introduce suitable components of western legal systems into the laws of Hong Kong prior to 1997. This will help to strengthen the confidence of Hong Kong people to some extent. People who are afraid of China are worried that the rule of law is not as effective in the

mainland as it is in Hong Kong today. mai

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Sir, it is dangerous to create restrictions and conditions on freedom of expression. There is a Chinese

saying, "If the authorities wish to incriminate & person, they would not worry about not having an excuse' bo 2 Geið.

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Throughout the history of China which spans five thousand 500 years, there have been innumberable blatant examples of this. If it is absolutely necessary to legislate some conditions on freedom of expression in Hong Kong, effective safeguards must

spelt be spalled out to prevent abuse of power by the authorities in the application of such legislation. We must remember that we legislate not only for ourselves but also for future generations. I trust the present Government in Hong Kong because it has a past record of performance. I cannot, however, convince people to have the same degree of trust in a future government which has not yet been formed.