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autonomy, such "important measures" were "gratifying". that Hong Kong should consider itself able to do no less.
I believe
It is important for Hong Kong not to be thought to be following a particular example which did not pay off. I understand that in the negotiations with the PRC, the United Kingdom sought to argue that there could be a difference between sovereignty and administration, with PRC sovereignty established and British administration continuing. Naturally, the PRC, holding a different opinion, took all opportunities to affirm its own sovereign rights. It still does so, invoking "sovereignty" where the concept of "one country, two systems", genuinely applied, would actually mandate reference to "law" Personally, I understand "sovereignty" to be the supreme controlling power of the state, but the term is used loosely. Mr. Lu Ping, for example, has said that press freedom after 1997: "must not infringe China's exercise of its sovereignty over Hong Kong.
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Under the Joint Declaration and Basic Law, however, the issue is whether actions in Hong Kong are lawful or unlawful. Here the differences between Chinese and Hong Kong conceptions of law and administration become apparent. In Hong Kong, everything is lawful which is not expressly prohibited by law. Yet in China, it is assumed that:-
"The State has the right to interfere in all civil activities which
run counter to state planning and state laws and decrees.
Genuine application of the concept of "one country, two systems" will preserve the difference in approach. Thus, my concern is that the difference between "controlling power of and under law" and "absolute pre-eminence irrespective of law" not disappear. If it were to do so, the determinant of PRC attitudes towards the SAR, suspicions which are not easy to assuage, will be converted into unlawful and offensive action to the cost of Hong Kong's "lifestyle" and potential. I believe it right to say this directly in Beijing, as a way of promoting mutual understanding on the suspicions which are certainly there. As one author put it:-
"From Xu Jiatun's warning in September 1984 about the tendency to become an 'independent political entity' to [the 1987] attack on attempts 'to resist communism by democracy', it would seem that the Chinese State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office has
40° certain suspicions of Hong Kong people."
Thus, it must be clear that Hong Kong will be a loyal part of China from 1st July, 1997 applying its own well-understood and entrenched system, exercising fully its high level of autonomy. In a Legco debate in March 1990, the point was put succinctly:-
"What we, the people of Hong Kong, really want is the opportunity to retain the lifestyle we have grown accustomed to, freedom to travel and to trade. We want a Hong Kong that encourages business
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