By Tu Haiming

After hearing Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s report on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s current situation and the HKSAR government’s work during his duty visit on Monday, President Xi Jinping reiterated the central government’s unwavering commitment to upholding “one country, two systems”, and its full support for Hong Kong to maintain its unique position and advantages, and to consolidate the city’s status as a global financial, shipping and trade center. His message has given Hong Kong residents much assurance and bolstered their confidence in having a better future.

President Xi holds Hong Kong’s unique status and advantages in high regard. His assessment, affection and support for Hong Kong stem from the perspective of building a strong nation and empowering China’s national resurgence.

Hong Kong plays an irreplaceable role in promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and Chinese modernization. It is the only Chinese territory that practices common law and is an internationally acclaimed free trade zone. Apart from being the freest economy in the world for 28 consecutive years, Hong Kong is also a “superconnector” between the country and the rest of the world. These distinctive advantages are absent in all other mainland cities.

Maintaining Hong Kong’s traditional strengths while endeavoring to create new competitive edges will benefit not only the city but also the overall development of the country. The city’s identity as an international finance center provides a convenient platform for foreign capital to access the mainland and mainland enterprises to invest abroad. It can facilitate the internationalization of the renminbi to make pivotal contributions for the country to build itself into a financial powerhouse. Mainland enterprises can harness Hong Kong’s advantage in the common law system and file an arbitration case to resolve disputes in international trade in Hong Kong. The city’s arbitration service, recognized by 140 countries globally, can make unique contributions to the country’s transformation into a trade powerhouse. Hong Kong’s international standing will act as a magnet for top talent, allowing it to play a crucial role in the country’s efforts to achieve self-reliance in science and technology and break through the bottlenecks in the process.

Hong Kong’s strengths are fundamentally the institutional advantages of “one country, two systems”. President Xi’s message reassured the people of Hong Kong that “one country, two systems” cannot, should not, and will not change. As long as we uphold the “one country” premise, the space for “two systems” will only expand over the course of time. And “one country, two systems” will last long.

Central gov’t overall jurisdiction highlighted

The requirement for annual duty visits by Hong Kong’s leader to Beijing embodies the central authorities’ overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR, and is an important way to implement it.

Chapter 2 of the Basic Law elaborate on the relationship between the central authorities and the HKSAR. Article 12 defines the status and nature of the HKSAR, stipulating that the “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be a local administrative region of the People’s Republic of China, which shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy and come directly under the Central People’s Government”. Meanwhile, Chapter 2 also stipulates that the Central People’s Government take charge of foreign affairs and defense matters related to the HKSAR.

Chapter 2, moreover, stipulates that the HKSAR is vested with executive power, legislative power and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication, and may enjoy other powers granted to it by the National People’s Congress, the NPC Standing Committee or the Central People’s Government. These provisions elucidate the powers granted by the central government to the HKSAR.

The above-mentioned provisions indicate that the central government’s overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR includes not only the powers the central government exercises directly, but also those granted to the HKSAR, including the city’s executive, legislative and judicial powers.

The chief executive’s annual work report to the central government, delivered on behalf of the HKSAR during his annual duty visit, has to elaborate not only on how the executive power has been exercised but also how other powers have been exercised in the HKSAR.

The central government took Lee’s work report seriously. Apart from Premier Li Qiang, other senior officials of the Communist Party of China also accompanied President Xi when he received Lee’s work report, including Cai Qi, director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang; Shi Taifeng, head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee; Chen Wenqing, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee; Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee; Zhou Ji, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the CPC Central Committee; and Zheng Yanxiong, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR.

The chief executive’s mandatory annual duty visit to Beijing and his work report to the central government is an important form of the central government exercising its overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR.

Article 43 of the Basic Law stipulates that the “Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be the head of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and shall represent the Region”, whereas Article 48(8) requires the chief executive to “implement the directives issued by the Central People’s Government in respect of the relevant matter provided for in this Law”. These two provisions form the legal basis for the chief executive’s accountability to the central government.

Having authorized the HKSAR to exercise the above-mentioned powers through the Basic Law, the central government is logically responsible for supervising the performance of the HKSAR, the authorized party, in exercising those powers.

The major change in the way the chief executive delivered his work report this year indicates that the central government attaches great importance to the optimization of the accountability system for the chief executive.

President Xi presided over the meeting for Lee’s duty-reporting while Premier Li Qiang and other high-ranking officials also attended the meeting. This was the first such arrangement since Hong Kong’s return to China that reflects the centralized and unified leadership of the CPC, and is consistent with the constitutional order of the HKSAR as prescribed by the nation’s Constitution and the Basic Law. It is believed that through step-by-step efforts, the implementation of the central government’s overall jurisdiction over the HKSAR will be further institutionalized and standardized.

The author is vice-chairman of the Committee on Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of Bauhinia Magazine.

Source: China Daily