ENG-1984 — Page 35

THE SINO-BRITISH JOINT DECLARATION ON THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG 23

Republic of China will not be extended to the Hong Kong SAR and that Hong Kong's capitalist system and life-style will remain unchanged for 50 years after the establishment of the SAR.

4. The Annex also states that, except in relation to foreign and defence affairs, which are now the overall responsibility of the British Government, and will with effect from 1 July 1997 become the overall responsibility of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China, the Hong Kong SAR will enjoy a high degree of autonomy, including executive, legislative and independent judicial power. The SAR will also have authority to conduct its own external affairs in appropriate areas (including those relating to economic, trade, financial and monetary, shipping, communications, touristic, cultural and sporting matters) as amplified in section XI of this Annex, which deals with external relations. The SAR will enjoy a significant degree of autonomy in the maintenance and development of its air transport system as set out in section IX of this Annex, which deals with civil aviation.

5. The section of the Annex which deals with constitutional arrangements and government structure provides that the Hong Kong SAR will be under the direct authority of the Central People's Government. The SAR will therefore not be under the authority of any provincial Government.

6. This section of the Annex lays down the main elements of the structure of government in the Hong Kong SAR. It also states that the Government and legislature of the SAR will be composed of local inhabitants. The chief executive will be selected by election or through consultations held locally and be appointed by the Central People's Government. Officials of the rank equivalent to Secretaries will be nominated by the chief executive and appointed by the Central People's Government. The legislature will be elected.

7. Furthermore the Annex indicates that the executive authorities will be required to act in accordance with the law and will be accountable to the legislature; that both Chinese and English languages may be used in government and in the courts; and that, apart from the national flag and national emblem of the People's Republic of China, the SAR may use a regional flag and emblem of its own.

Section II: The Laws

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8. This section of the Annex, which describes how the Hong Kong SAR will have its own system of laws, provides continuity of Hong Kong law beyond 1997. The law of the SAR will include the common law and laws passed by the legislature of the SAR. It will remain, as now, capable of adapting to changing conditions and will be free to take account of developments in the common law elsewhere. That this is so is reinforced by specific provisions in section III of this Annex providing that the courts of the SAR will be able to refer to precedents in other common law jurisdictions, that judges of the SAR may be recruited from other common law jurisdictions and that the SAR's court of final appeal may invite judges from other common law jurisdictions to sit on it.

9. Hong Kong laws and those enacted after 1 July 1997 by the legislature of the Hong Kong SAR will be valid unless they contravene the Basic Law. The policies stated in the Joint Declaration and in this Annex will be stipulated in the Basic Law.

10. Laws enacted in the Hong Kong SAR will, as now, have to be passed by the legislature, or under its authority in the form of delegated legislation. Such laws may amend the laws of