TNAG-1843-FCO40-2618-House-of-Commons-Select-Committee-on-Foreign-Affairs-enquiry-1989 — Page 39

WOZAPE (3)

(b) BASIC LAW: STATUS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE VERSION

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Article 9 of the draft Basic Law provides that English may be used as an official language by the executive authorities,

legislature and judicial organs of the SAR. There will thus clearly be a need for an authentic English text of the Basic Law. Senior Chinese officials have publicly indicated that there will be such a

text.

But if there are disputes as to the interpretation of a particular clause of the Basic Law because of difficulties over reconciling the English and Chinese texts, I understand that the

Chinese text will be decisive. That is only natural given that the Basic Law is to be a Chinese law, passed by the National People's Congress.

As the Committee are aware, the English translation of the Basic Law has already been refined between the two published drafts; and the Committee will have seen the very useful comparison table produced by the BLCC, which explains where and why particular

changes have been made.

The English text of the second draft in my view reads better than the first draft. But it may still be revised further. Indeed, the Deputy Secretary-General of the BLCC indicated on 17 March that the BLDC's translation, unit could well visit Hong Kong to discuss the translation with local legal professionals.