Urgent Business: Hong Kong, Freedom of Expression and 1997
However, it was not until after the violent suppression of the democracy movement in Beijing in June 1989 that China's strategy for political control took on a sense of urgency. Fear of Hong Kong's capacity to challenge its authority - whether here or on the mainland - prompted China to tighten its grip on the draft Basic Law, strengthening or extending its provisions in ways which were unforeseen in the Joint Declaration. Among these inconsistencies, as will be seen below, are provisions which give the power of final interpretation of the Basic Law to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a political body, rather than to the Hong Kong courts, which limit democratic development, and which require the SAR to enact legislation prohibiting "subversion".
Since the passage of the Basic Law, Beijing has pursued with vigour its strategy for the takeover, concluding with the British authorities' agreements on constitutional matters which further erode the SAR's promised autonomy after 1997. Among these have been an agreement on the future Court of Appeal which limits the number of judges from other common law jurisdictions that may sit on the court, contrary to stipulations in the Joint Declaration and Basic Law. China moreover, has made it abundantly clear that it wishes to be consulted on all matters which have a bearing on the transition. To these, under the former Governor Sir David Wilson, the British largely acquiesced.
Whether the arrival in mid-1992 of the new Governor, Chris Patten, the former chairman of the UK Conservative Party, would signal a break with the longstanding policy of "convergence" or appeasement was unclear. The Chinese authorities had been issuing strong warnings that any departure from convergence as Beijing perceived it would damage the fundamental interests of both Hong Kong and Britain. It was broadly recognized that the Governor's first test would be whether or not he would propose increased democratization, in particular additional directly-elected seats to the Legislative Council in the coming 1995 Council elections. China has said that proposals should converge with the Basic Law's arrangements for the first post-1997 Legislative Council, in which only 20 out of its 60 seats are to be directly elected.
On 7 October 1992, Mr Patten revealed plans to widen the franchise for Legislative Council elections in 1995. However, he is not proposing to increase the number of directly-elected seats to the Council, but rather to expand the electorate for nine new functional constituencies to include Hong Kong's entire working population, and to set up an election committee comprising mostly directly-elected District Board members to choose 10 Legislative Councillors. Mr Patten is also proposing to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18 years and to replace appointments to Hong Kong's local district boards with direct elections. The Governor, in announcing these plans, pointed out that he was particularly concerned to use all the powers available to him to ensure democracy while remaining within the provisions. of the Basic Law.
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Although the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law provide that the Court of Final Appeal may call on judges from other common law jurisdictions "as required", Britain and China have agreed that the number of foreign judges that may sit on the Court be limited. This controversial agreement is widely regarded as weakening the constitutional independence of the judiciary and is seen as a further erosion of the "high degree of autonomy" promised by the SAR.
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