TNAG-2289-FCO40-3293-Future-of-Hong-Kong-Basic-Law-1991 — Page 97

FCO40 Hong Kong Department Records 聯邦事務部香港部檔案 All

service arrangements for Hong Kong airlines on routes which do not operate to, from or through mainland China

[16]

12. Defence, however, constituted an issue which became more acute after Tianamen Square. In addition to providing that defence was the responsibility of the CPG, the Joint Declaration had stated that Chinese military forces would be stationed in the SAR for purposes of defence; but they would not interfere in the internal affairs of the SAR and the maintenance of public order in Hong Kong would be the responsibility of the SAR. These provisions were repeated in the April 1988 text of the draft Basic Law with the additions that the Government of the SAR might seek assistance from the garrison in the maintenance of public order and disaster relief, and that the members of the garrison, in addition to abiding by "nation-wide laws", would also abide by the laws of the SAR. In the context of the stationing of a Chinese garrison in the SAR, the reference to "nation-wide" laws meant

meant those laws which specifically regulate the People's Liberation Army; but the' February 1989 text of the draft Basic Law added the further possibility that, if the Standing Committe of the NPC were to declare a state of emergency in the SAR, the Central People's Government might apply "the relevant national laws

to the Region"[17]] a formula which was taken to refer to

laws of an emergency or coercive character.

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