HONG KONG-Hong Kong’s justice chief made a distinction on Monday between the central government’s Liaison Office in the special administrative region and departments of the central government established in the SAR according to Article 22 of the Basic Law.
The Liaison Office is a representative of the central government, instead of a central government body confined by Article 22 (1) of the SAR’s constitutional document not to interfere in the affairs administered by the SAR on its own, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah said in response to inquiries during a media session.
Article 22 (2) of the Basic Law stipulates that central government departments need the consent of the SAR government to establish offices in Hong Kong, which is not the case with the Liaison Office, Cheng said.
The Liaison Office has been operating in the city as the Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch even before Hong Kong returned to the motherland in 1997, she said. It was renamed in 2000 by the State Council, and required no such consent from the SAR government, Cheng added.
To fully understand the Liaison Office’s role in the HKSAR, the justice secretary said, one should refer to Article 12 of the Basic Law.
This article says the HKSAR enjoys a high degree of autonomy while coming directly under the central government.
The Liaison Office represents the central government in overseeing the HKSAR in its implementation of the Basic Law and the “one country, two systems” principle, Cheng explained. The office’s previous comments on the impasse in the Legislative Council should not be seen as interference in Hong Kong’s affairs, she added.
These comments had been fully in accordance with the office’s duty to supervise Hong Kong, Cheng added, referring to the office’s criticism of opposition lawmakers who have plunged the city’s legislature into semi-paralysis for over six months.
Interference refers to overreach of authority without legal basis, she said. The office, however, was performing its duties on behalf of the central government, Cheng added.
Although Article 22 does not apply to it, the office needs to abide by the Basic Law and other laws of Hong Kong, according to the nation’s Constitution, Cheng said.
She dismissed the argument that an interpretation of the article by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top legislature, is necessary to set the record straight, saying that a comprehensive and rational study of the Basic Law is enough to clear the matter.
