Miss Brooks,
Legal Adviser
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AMENDMENT OF THE BASIC LAW
1.
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You kindly gave Dr Harkin some oral advice on Lu Ping's statement, reported in Hong Kong telno 1406, that as there is not yet an SAR legislative or an SAR Chief Executive it is "totally impossible" to change the Basic Law. I understand that you commented that this was right: BL 159 could not operate until the BL comes into effect; and that you added that the only course of action would be a political discussion with the Chinese as to whether they would amend the BL.
2. We have in fact been waiting for advice from Ms Barrett for some time on the possibility of BL amendment before 1997. I hope we can agree what the position is within the next few weeks, before the Governor-designate leaves for Hong Kong.
3.
On the face of it, whatever Lu Ping may say, it would be open to the National People's Congress to enact amendments to the BL and its Annexes before 1 July 1997 and for the
It would also be President of the PRC to promulgate them. possible for the NPC to adopt a new "Decision" on the method for the formation of the first Government and the first Legislative Council of the SAR. political will rather than law. decide whether some prior consultative process with Hong Kong people would be desirable.
This seems to be a matter of It would be for the NPC to
However, we have wondered whether there is some other Chinese legal angle, eg some sense in which the NPC can entrench a piece of legislation so that it cannot
4.
subsequently be amended save as provided in that legislation. Do you have any views on this please?
5.
There is of course a separate political question about possible disadvantages of setting a precedent for BL amendment, before or after 1997. Perhaps Dr Harkin could start thinking of ways in which the Chinese might be tempted to amend the BL in a way hostile to our objectives or
CODE 18-77
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