Rao Geping,

law professor at Peking University, and former member of the Basic Law Committee

The “Extradition Bill

Incident”, which continues until this day, has had profound impact on the implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle. Hong Kong is now filled with disoriented ideologies, while its political landscape is experiencing profound changes. It is time for all stakeholders — including the central government, the HKSAR government, the Hong Kong community and the people of the Chinese mainland — to review the practice of the “one country, two systems” principle over the past 22 years. We need to search for a solution that breaks the deadlock and reaches consensus.

The HKSAR government and all sectors of the community must waste no time in strengthening people’s understanding of the Constitution and the Basic Law, and fostering national identity, especially among public servants and young people. We must face up to Hong Kong’s longstanding deficiencies in national education, and step up patriotic education.

The oversimplified idea that Hong Kong’s governance is “a high degree of autonomy” and “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” has misinterpreted the original intent of the Basic Law. Hong Kong’s unprecedented, high degree of autonomy is defined on the premise of adhering to “one country” and the country’s constitutional order. Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy is a fantasy if divorced from China and China’s constitutional order and the Basic Law.

The Basic Law stipulates that the HKSAR shall enjoy the highest degree of autonomy within a country, only because the Constitution established the principle of “one country, two systems” on account of the history and situation of Hong Kong. The “one country, two systems” principle, “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” and “a high degree of autonomy”, the highlights of the Basic Law, make Hong Kong even more outstanding in the world.