Politics and religions in Hong Kong after 1997

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes The full text of the Basic Law can be found at www.info.gov.hk/basic_law/fulltext/index.htm (checked 12 September 2003). See Financial, 2002. It should be noted that Christmas (25–26 December) and Good Friday and Easter were public holidays in Hong Kong both before and after 1997. For example, about 40 per cent of the schools, 60 per cent of the social service programmes and 20 per cent of the hospital beds in Hong Kong are managed by Christian churches. Such groups include the Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, the Federation of Catholic Students, the Hong Kong Christian Institute and the Christian Industrial Committee. Followers of Falun Gong included, for example, Yu Changxin, a retired air force general sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment for his role as the key organiser of the 25 April 1999 demonstration, and Xu Changxin, former assistant director of the Hebei provincial personnel department, sentenced to four years' imprisonment for leaking internal documents about the decision to ban Falun Gong. See Hong Kong Standard (Hong Kong), 5 and 15 January 2000. For instance, the implementation of the law on national security in Macau has not met any obvious opposition, because Macau has had stronger historical links with China than Hong Kong has. There are two drafts of the Basic Law. The second draft of Article 23 (February 1989) reads as follows: ‘The Hong Kong SAR shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition or theft of state secrets.’ After the Tiananmen incident it was revised to read: ‘The Hong Kong SAR shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign organizations or bodies.’ To be fair to the central government, it has never openly requested the Hong Kong government to ban Falun Gong in Hong Kong. However, the official newspaper and officers of the Chinese government do openly request the Hong Kong government to do so. The French government passed its anti‐cult law on 20 May 2001. The full text can be found at www.cesnur.org/2001/fr_law_en.htm (checked 13 February 2003). The Basic Law states that the chief executive shall be elected by a broadly representative Election Committee in accordance with this law and appointed by the Central People's Government. The Election Committee shall be composed of 800 members from the following sectors: 200 from the industrial, commercial and financial sectors;. 200 from the professions; 200 from labour, social services, religious and other sectors; 200 from members of the Legislative Council, representatives of district‐based organisations, Hong Kong deputies to the National People's Congress, and representatives of Hong Kong members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. However, fewer than 100 members are elected by the people of Hong Kong. The full text of the bill can be found at www.info.gov.hk/sb (checked 20 February 2003). For instance, the Basic Law limits to 50 per cent the number of seats in the legislature that can be filled by direct elections. The number of seats may be reviewed by 2007. This is a quotation from Regina Ip responding to a US State Department statement which noted ‘serious concerns’ in Hong Kong. See www.article23.org.hk/english/quotes/ip.htm (checked 12 March 2003). A ‘blue paper’ is prepared for the process of legislation, but the public does not have any chance to discuss it. A ‘white paper’ is published for public consultation. The demand for a ‘white paper’ in connection with Article 23 arose because the Proposal to Implement Article 23 of the Basic Law did not state precisely what the law would contain. A local organisation is subordinate to a mainland organisation if (i) the former solicits or accepts for its operation substantial financial contributions, substantial financial sponsorship or substantial financial support of any kind or loans of a substantial amount, directly or indirectly from the latter; (ii) the former is under the direction or control, directly or indirectly, of the latter; or (iii) the policies of the former or any of such policies are determined, directly or indirectly, by the latter. See www.article23.org.hk/english/quotes/ip.htm (checked 12 March 2003). Regina Ip, secretary for security, is responsible for putting the bill through legislation and explaining it to the public. According to the Basic Law, any amendment to the proposed bill (‘blue paper’) has to obtain a simple majority of two constituencies of the members of the Legislative Council, that is, the functional and geographical. (The functional constituency represents professional bodies, while the geographical constituency consists of people returned by local elections.) This is a provision which makes it likely that no proposed amendment will in fact be made. See Appendix 2 of the Basic Law. There is no governing party in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is under the rule of the chief executive. However, government policy has to be passed by the Legislative Council; the government controls the majority of the Legislative Council, and the Liberal Party is one of its supporters. In June 1999, in order to stop a large influx of immigrants coming into Hong Kong, and rejecting the verdict of the Court of Appeal, the Hong Kong government asked the central government to reinterpret the Basic Law. As a result, those who previously had the right of abode in Hong Kong were refused it. However, some of them and their children were already in Hong Kong. They appealed to the Court again. During the time of waiting, the government refused to provide education to these children because their residency had not yet been confirmed. For instance, on 15 December 2002 some 2000–3000 Christians and on 1 July 2003 some 10,000 Christians had a time of prayer and meditation together before joining the protest against the government. See Note 18; also Wong, 2001, pp. 9–14. Cardinal Wu said that his church was committed to dialogue, reconciliation and the future development of Hong Kong. Admitting disagreements with the official church in China, he declared that the territory's Catholic Church had a ‘historic mission’ to resolve the differences and to achieve reunion with China's Catholics. See Wu, 1989, sec. III, pp. 2–4; sec. VII, pp. 10–11. ‘From a young age, I have been outspoken. I think it is good,’ he said in an interview. ‘Maybe I need to pay attention to my character and need to tone down a bit, but it does not mean I have to stop talking to give people a good impression.’ See SCMP, 4 March 2003. It holds a Tiananmen Incident memorial service every year, and requests democratisation in China. Han Dongfang was born in China, where he became a social activist. He was refused reentry to China in August 1993 after a visit overseas. He stayed in Hong Kong where the colonial government granted him residency. He founded the newspaper Zhongguo laogong tongxin (News on Workers in China) in Hong Kong

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