TNAG-2289-FCO40-3293-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1991 — Page 175

CODE RAD

UNCLASSIFIED

Reference

HKCO12/3

Ms

малок, нико

30 APR 1991

amoss in HK.

Mr

10$291 sainty 14.

Nothing starthing. But I Suppose it is reaming versage

well that this

is

getting

BL

for 2314.

CHINESE PRESS COMMENT ON THE BASIC LAW

The first

1. The 1 April edition of the Chinese weekly news magazine Liaowang contains two short articles on the Basic Law. is the record of an interview with a Hong Kong lawyer, whose name in Mandarin is Li Fushan. He was a member of the drafting committee for the Basic Law (BL), and a member of the sub groups on the political system and on the rights and responsibilities of citizens. He said that the BL was a very important law for post 1997 Hong Kong. It would be the constitution for the future Hong Kong and all other political, economic, cultural and social legislation would be founded on it. He said that after BL had been passed, several Hong Kong friends had asked him whether he was satisfied with it. He had replied that he was not entirely satisfied, but could say that he was 95% satisfied. He added that this question should not be determined by any individual's particular view point but by how acceptable it was to the majority of people. In this respect, the main hope of the majority of the population was that, after the return of Hong Kong, their ability to live and work in peace and contentment could be guaranteed and in his opinion the BL provided this. A very small number of people picked on one or two articles that they did not like and wanted to over-turn the whole of the BL. It had to be recognised that there were a very small number of politically motivitated people who wanted to exploit the psychology of the Hong Kong people to attain their political aims. After the 4 June incident some people had organised demonstrations and collected funds. This was very wrong. If the Hong Kong people expected the central government not to interfere in Hong Kong's affairs after 1997, why should these people interfere in the mainland's business. This would not help stability and prosperity in Hong Kong.

2.

All

People had also asked him whether or not Peking would be sending judges to Hong Kong. This was out of the question. they needed to do was read the relevant provisions in the BL carefully; with the exception of those laws of a colonial nature all other laws, including the system of precedent, would be preserved. This was an important guarantee that the Hong Kong legal system would not be changed. After he had made this explanation, his interlocuters were much relieved. He said that there needed to be a great deal of publicity to make the people of Hong Kong understand that the BL was in their future interests. Something was now being done on Hong Kong TV and radio

UNCLASSIFIED