Kong, will need to be replaced by Hong Kong local legislation. As you will
appreciate this is a very large area of work. We are discussing these
matters with the Chinese side in the Joint Liaison Group and I have to say
that discussions are going very slowly and there is concern about this. If
the work were not completed by 1997 there would certainly be a serious risk
that the laws which were not compatible with the Basic Law would be
declared invalid by the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress. The Governor said in his recent address that it would be
irresponsible to let this happen. and the Governor will be taking measures
to ensure that the timetable is adhered to. I stress that this is in the
interests of both sides because it is in both sides' interests that there
If there is this work of adapting laws
should be a smooth transition.
which is incomplete by the time of the 1 July 1997, then there would not be
the smooth transition which everyone is hoping for. So far as multilateral
and bilateral treaties are concerned, this is the other area of work,
namely their continued application to Hong Kong after 1997. Again we are
discussing this with the Chinese side, the continued application of some
200 multilateral treaties.
About half dealing with the period since 1986
have been covered. There is therefore an urgent need to speed up the work
in that area. Furthermore there is a large programme of bilateral
negotiations to be completed with other governments in areas such as air
services, extradition, investment protection. If all these bilateral
agreements are to remain in place then Chinese agreement is necessary, so
there is a lot of work that still needs to be done in these areas.
86.
Can I just come back to the wider and I believe critical
question of the robustness of the Hong Kong legal system after 1997? You
confirmed that the people of Hong Kong effectively will have no redress to
international institutions after 1997. What in your judgement is the
degree of protection that they will have against the legal system in Hong
25
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