Reaffirming ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and guaranteeing full enactment of the Basic Law
The following is the full speech by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, at a meeting to commemorate the 20th anniversary of implementing the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the P
right), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress(NPCSC), greets Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai(left), a Hong Kong member of the NPCSC, during a meeting marking the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on Saturday. The central government has called for greater efforts to raise public awareness of the policy of “One Country, Two Systems” and the HKSAR Basic Law to correct deliberate misinterpretations of the Basic Law.
Twenty years ago, China resumed exercising sovere i g n ty o v e r Ho n g Kong and established the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and the Basic Law of the HKSAR entered into force. It marked a major event in the history of the Chinese nation, one of upholding sovereignty and realizing national reunification. It ushered Hong Kong into a new era in the course of historical development i n w h i c h t h e Ho n g Ko n g people join the people of all ethnic groups in China to share the dignity and glory of being Chinese and create a bright future for Hong Kong. Today, we are meeting here to mark the 20 th anniversary of the implementation of the HKSAR Basic Law. By reviewing the success of the endeavor of “One Countr y, Two Systems” in Hong Kong and taking stock of the valuable practices in implementing the HKSAR Basic Law, we reaffirm our commitment to advancing the great cause of “One Countr y, Two Systems”, and we will continue to ensure the full implementation of the HKSAR Basic Law so as to further uphold China’s sovereignty, security and development interests as well as Hong Kong’s longterm prosperity and stability. I wish to make the following points.
I. Formulating and implementing the HKSAR Basic Law is a historic accomplishment.
The HKSAR Basic Law is a product of ingenuity of a great era. In the late 1970 s, with the convening of the Third Plenum of the 11 th C e n t r a l C o m m i tt e e o f t h e Communist Party of China, our country embarked on a path of reform and openingup to build socialism with distinctive Chinese features. To a c c o m p l i s h t h e t h r e e important tasks of accelerating socialist modernization, realizing national reunification and upholding world peace, Deng Xiaoping, with courage and vision of a great Chinese communist and taking a historical and overarching approach, creatively put forth the concept of “One Country, Two Systems” and applied it first in resolving the question of Hong Kong. He thus opened a new way to achieving China’s reunification through peaceful means. On April 4, 1990, t h e 7 t h N a t i o n a l Pe o p l e’s Congress (NPC), at its third session, deliberated on and adopted the Basic Law of the HKSAR in accordance with the Constitution, thus codifying the “One Country, Two Systems” polic y into a law with concrete provisions and institutional arrangements. This law, which is constitutional in nature, establishes the State’s fundamental policies toward Hong Kong and the system of the special administrative region in Hong Kong, and defines the legal status of HKSAR under “One Country” and the relationship of power between the central government and HKSAR. It also provides for the basic rights and obligations enjoyed by Hong Kong residents and lays out the political system of HKSAR and its systems and policies covering the economy, education, science, culture, sports, religion, labor, social service and other fields. Deng Xiaoping pointed out at the time that “the basic law is ver y important. It is something new, without precedent in world history”, and that “the success of our ‘One Country, Two Systems’ formula should be guaranteed by the Basic Law of HKSAR”. Despite the lack of a precedent to follow, the HKSAR Basic Law provided sound solutions to a host of complex issues, such as socialism practiced by the State with capitalism practiced in its individual region and overall jurisdiction exercised by the central government with a high degree of autonomy granted to the HKSAR. The Basic Law was thus hailed by Deng Xiaoping as a creative initiative of historic and international significance.
T he HKSAR Basic L aw fully embodies the shared desire of all the Chinese people including the people in Hong Kong. The drafting of the HKSAR Basic Law was an unprecedented undertaking. In April 1985, the NPC set up the Drafting Committee on the HKSAR Basic Law, which consisted of representatives and experts from both the mainland and Hong Kong, with those from Hong Kong taking up a fairly big proportion of its members. To solicit public opinions more e x t e n s i v e l y, a c o u n s e l i n g committee on the Basic Law, composed of representatives o f d i ff e r e n t s e c t o r s o f t h e society and relevant foreign nationals, was established in Hong Kong. It is known as the “counseling organization of the largest scale and representation in the history of Hong Kong”. Meanwhile, the Drafting Committee and the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) successively released the full text of the d r a f t B a s i c L aw t o e x t e n - sively solicit opinions both in Hong Kong and on the mainland. Close to 80,000 comments and proposals were received in Hong Kong a l o n e . To r e a c h e x t e n s i v e agreement, the Drafting Committee on the HKSAR Basic L aw voted by secre t ballot on every article, annex and relevant document to be included in the draft Basic L aw, e a c h o f w h i c h c o u l d be adopted only with the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of its members. Repeated discussions were made on almost every word and punctuation mark in the text of the HKSAR Basic Law before they were finalized. As a result, the drafting took four years and eight months. Thanks to such comprehensive, detailed and in-depth democratic consultations, the interests of all parties were taken into account and broad agreement was reached. The HKSAR Basic L aw thus represents the broadest common ground between all sectors, communities and groups in Hong Kong and the broadest common ground be tween the mainland and Hong Kong. It was not easy to reach such common ground, which should be cherished all the more by all of us.
The HKSAR Basic Law has fully me t the test of practice and demonstrates great vitality. At the national level, in the past 20 years since the implementation of the HKSAR Basic Law in Hong Kong , the central government has adhered to the principles of “One Country, Two Systems”, “Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy”, and acted in strict accordance with the Constitution and the Basic L a w. T h e c e n t r a l g o v e r n - ment has committed itself to upholding the policy of “One Country, Two Systems” and the Basic Law, actively supported development in all fields in HKSAR , and faithfully protected the lawful rights and interests o f t h e Ho n g Ko n g p e o p l e . The central government h a s e ff e c t i v e l y e x e r c i s e d overall jurisdiction over HKSAR in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic L aw, which includes the following: appointing five Chief Executives and principal officials in successive HKSAR governments, accepting reports by the HKSAR on its appointment and removal of judges of the Court of Final Appeal and the Chief Judge of the High Court, assuming responsibility for foreign affairs relat- ing to the HKSAR, exercising diplomatic power, forming the People’s Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison to fulfill duties of defense, and exercising the power of interpretation concerning the Basic L aw, the power of making decision on major issues, the power that an HKSAR law should be reported for the record and that it may be returned, and the power of making decision on the implementation of national laws in the HKSAR. In recent years, in particular, the central government issued the W h i t e Pa p e r e n t i t l e d T h e Practice of the “One Country, TWO Systems” Policy in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It gives a comprehensive account of the policy of “One Country, Two Systems” and remarkable success made in its application, thus clearing up confusions and misunderstanding. In light of actual c o n d i t i o n s i n Ho n g Ko n g and in strict accordance with the Basic L aw, the central government made the decision regarding the election of the HKSAR Chief Executive by universal suffrage, thus gradually advancing democracy in the HKSAR. The central government supported the HKSAR administrative and judicial authorities in handling according to law illegal activities of “Occupy Central”, thus maintaining law and order and stability in the Hong Kong socie ty. The NPCSC made interpretation of Article 104 of the HKSAR Basic L aw, clarifying legal prerequisites and requirements for standing for election and oath taking when assuming public office i n t h e H K SA R , t h u s e ff e c - tively deterring and countering people who preach the so-called “Hong Kong independence” and upholding the authority of the HKSAR Basic Law.
At the local level of Hong Kong, under the safeguards o f t h e H K SA R B a s i c L aw, Hong Kong’s previous capitalist system, economic syst e m a n d w ay o f l i f e h av e remained unchanged, and its laws have remained basically unchanged. As provided for in the Basic Law, the HKSAR exercises a high degree of autonomy and enjoys executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication. Hong Kong residents enjoy extensive rights and freedoms. All this has ensured steady economic growth and continued progress in public sectors such as education, medicine and health, culture, sports and social wealth. In particular, the HKSAR political system established by the HKSAR Basic Law has functioned smoothly and the governance of the HKSAR has been consistently up to standard. Figures released by the World Bank show indicators such as political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law, control of corruption, voice and accountability for Hong Kong are far higher than those before the return of Hong Kong to the motherland. In particular, the indicator of the rule of law, which attracts keen public interest, has seen Hong Kong jumping from behind the 60 th place in 1996 to the 11 th place in 2015 in global ranking , outperforming some major Western countries.
At the international level, under the HKSAR Basic Law, Hong Kong has retained its distinctive feature as a place where Chinese and foreign businesses and cultures mingle. Hong Kong has remained an international financial, trading and shipping hub and has been rated for many years as the freest economy and most competitive region in the world by relevant international institutions. Hong Kong is now the largest source of foreign direct investment made in the mainland and the biggest non-local financing center for mainland companies. It has increasingly become an important strategic platform for internationalizing the RMB and pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative. The number of foreign companies headquartered in Hong Kong has increased steadily. More and more foreign nationals and overseas Chinese have settled down in Hong Kong. Supported by the central government, Hong Kong has expanded its external exchanges and enhanced its international influence. The success of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy in Hong Kong is widely recognized and hailed by the international community.
In short, the great success Hong Kong has achieved since its return fully shows that the HKSAR Basic Law is a good law that suits the actual conditions of both the country and Hong Kong, serves as a fundamental guarantee for the lofty cause of “One Country, Two Systems” and has met the test of time and practice.
Il. We should earnestly learn from the practices of implementing the HKSAR Basic Law.
The “One Country, Two Systems” policy is a pioneering initiative that has no precedent in history. This means that the practice of the HKSAR Basic Law is necessarily an evolving process of exploration and improvement. Over the past two decades, both the central government and the HKSAR have gained a deeper understanding of the underlying practices of the HKSAR Basic Law and drawn on its experience in the process of responding to new developments and tackling new issues. All these practices and experience deserve to be reaffirmed and drawn upon. Here, I wish to stress the following four points:
First, we should uphold the fundamental purposes of the policy of “One Country, Two Systems”. President Xi Jinping pointed out that to advance the cause of “One Country, Two Systems”, we must uphold the fundamental purposes of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, and work together to safeguard China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and maintain longterm prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao. And this leads to a very important conclusion, that is, the “One Country, Two Systems” policy ser ves two inter-connected purposes, namely, not only maintaining long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao, but also safeguarding China’s sovereignty, sec urity and de velopment interests. The very first sentence of the preamble of the HKSAR Basic Law is: “Hong Kong has been part of the territory of China since ancient times”, and its first article states that “the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China”. This is the premise for the full and faithful implementation of the Basic Law. It then follows that having a keen sense of national identity is crucial for the implementation of the HKSAR Basic Law. Without this fundamental premise, nothing can be achieved. In particular, it should be pointed out that China resumed exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong in the full sense of the term, including jurisdiction. The central government has overall jurisdiction over HKSAR. On this premise, the HKSAR Basic Law provides for the way in which the central government exercises jurisdiction over the HKSAR, that is, some powers are directly exercised by the central government, while others are delegated by the NPC to the HKSAR to exercise according to the Basic Law. This is what a high degree of autonomy means. To uphold the overall jurisdiction of the central government means to uphold national sovereignty, which is the source of the high degree of autonomy of the HKSAR. It should also be pointed out that under the system of “One Country, Two Systems”, the power the HKSAR exercises is delegated by but not separated from the central government. Under no circumstances should anyone be allowed to challenge the power of the central government in the name of a high degree of autonomy. A keen appreciation of this crucial point holds the key to upholding the sound relationship between the central government and the HKSAR.