TNAG-2168-FCO40-3105-House-of-Commons-Foreign-Affairs-Committee-inquiry-into-Hong-1990 — Page 82

CONFIDENTIAL

An additional element of local approval is implicit in the

requirement that the Bill obtains the consent of two-thirds

of the the Deputies of the Region to the NPC, but that

additional requirement could also frustrate the wishes for

amendment of the Legislature and the Executive. Bills

proposed by the Standing Committee of the NPC and the State

Council do not require any local consent.

Article 158

(This Article contains no explicit reference to the Joint

Declaration. Are we sure that it is good enough as it

stands?)

6.

Unlike Article 159, which provides for amendments of the

Basic Law, Article 158 contains no express requirement that

an interpretation shall not contravene the established basic policies of the PRC regarding Hong Kong. [In our confidential discussions with the Chinese we urged them to add a comparable provision to Article 158. The Chinese said that this was unnecessary.] The Chinese maintain that no comparable provision is necessary in an article such as Article 158 which deals with interpretation since the

preamble to the Basic Law states that the object of enacting

the Basic Law is to ensure the implementation of the basic

policies of the PRC regarding Hong Kong and no

interpretative power can go outside the object of legislation.

CONFIDENTIAL