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China Claims Right to Amend Hong Kong Law

Posted on: Tuesday, 6 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

BEIJING - China made a major ruling Tuesday on how Hong Kong chooses its leaders, saying the territory must submit proposed political reforms to Beijing for approval. Hong Kong activists immediately decried the decision.

The Chinese government's National People's Congress issued the ruling in an interpretation of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution.

"The right to amend the law belongs to the National People's Congress," said Qiao Xiaoyang, deputy secretary-general of the NPC's Standing Committee. He added, outlining central power: "A locality has no fixed power. All powers of the locality derive from the authorization of the central authorities."

The committee's vote effectively ties the hands of the Hong Kong government by allowing only Beijing to ultimately approve reforms - control that pro-democracy activists have vehemently lobbied against.

"This is like having to ask a robber if you can use your own money," said Law Yuk-kai, director of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a private group. "The Hong Kong people have been robbed of their rights."

The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in Beijing said it was "unclear" about the ruling.

Hong Kong, a peninsula and group of islands on the southeastern edge of mainland China, was a British territory for 150 years before reverting to the Chinese in 1997. Beijing promised it would allow the region to operate under the principle of "one country, two systems" and a "high degree of autonomy."

The Basic Law is the document that governs those rights for Hong Kong's people, and is administered by the territory's chief executive, the Beijing-appointed Tung Chee-hwa.

While autonomy has endured to some extent, recent actions by the central government in Beijing - including the backing of an anti-subversion law last year - have led democracy advocates in Hong Kong to say that the Chinese leadership is breaking its promises.

The NPC, in a surprise announcement March 26, said it would rule on the future of Hong Kong's elections by voting on "interpretations" of the territory's mini-constitution.

Tsang Hin-chi, a Hong Kong delegate to the NPC, said the ruling also left open the possibility of a direct election in 2007 and allowed the current system to stay unchanged.

"If the system needs to be changed, it can be changed. But it can also stay the same," Tsang said in remarks carried widely on Hong Kong television and radio. He called the ruling "very mild, very clear."

"I hope people don't oppose it blindly," said Tsang, who is a member of the Standing Committee, the NPC's top legislative panel.

The legislature and government media have touted the interpretation as necessary for the political well-being of Hong Kong and its people. Qiao said there was robust debate in the rubber-stamp legislature's committee meeting this week.

"There were very big differences of opinions here," he said at a news conference.

The Basic Law was written by the mainland when Hong Kong was returned from Britain's administration in 1997. It sets out full democracy in the territory as an eventual goal but gives no timetable.

Many in Hong Kong see the NPC vote as an attempt to stifle the territory, which enjoys Western-style liberties typically denied on the mainland. Opposition lawmaker James To called the decision "illegal" because it amounted to an amendment of the Basic Law - without proper procedures.

The law states electoral reform must be approved by Hong Kong's legislature and leader, then the mainland's legislature, To said.

He predicted a massive backlash, saying that "it will definitely intensify the tension between Hong Kong and the central government.

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