1.10 Legislative branch

Unicameral Legislative Council (LegCo) (As at 2004-2008: 60 seats; 30 returned by functional constituencies (indirect election), 30 returned by geographical constituencies (direct election); members serve four-year terms)

Under the initial design, the last Legislative Council of Hong Kong under British rule was to be elected according to the Basic Law and would have become the first Legislative Council of the HKSAR. Chris Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, had extended the electorate of functional constituencies to cover virtually all employees in Hong Kong. The PRC government strongly criticized such an arrangement as breaching diplomatic agreements between China and the UK, and had set up a provisional Legislative Council to take over the role of legislature on July 1, 1997.

Elections: The first Legislative Council elections were held in May 1998, and the second in September 2000. The next elections in 2004 will increase the number of seats returned by geographical constituencies to 30 and the number of seats returned by functional constituencies to 30. The method of selecting legislative council seats after 2007 has yet to be determined.

The elections were praised by pro-Government camp as free, open, and widely contested, but were criticized by the pro-democracy camp as unfair and not democratic enough, as some can cast more than one vote (in both geographical and functional constituencies). In both elections, pro-Beijing wins the majority of indirectly elected positions while pro-democracy and the independents occupy most directly elected seats.

See: Hong Kong Legislative Council elections, 2004

According to the Article 68 and Annex II of the Basic Law, the passage of bills and motions introduced by the government requires a simple majority vote of Legislative Council members present, while bills and motions introduced by Legislative Council members require simple majority vote of each of the two groups of members present: those returned by functional constituencies, and those returned by geographical constituencies / Election Committee. As a result, a bill from the government is much easier to pass than a bill from members. This arrangement reflects the "executive-led" philosophy underlying the Basic Law, but was considered by some as weakening the role of the legislature in overseeing the government.

1.11 Judicial branch

The Court of Final Appeal in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

2 Major political issues in recent years

2.1 Right of Abode

Main article: Right of abode issue, Hong Kong

On January 29, 1999, the Court of Final Appeal, the highest judicial authority in Hong Kong interpreted the Basic Law in a case, in such a way that the Government estimated would allow 1.6 million Mainland China immigrants to enter Hong Kong within ten years. This caused widespread concerns among the public on the social and economical consequences.

While some in the legal sector advocated that the National People's Congress (NPC) should be asked to amend the part of the Basic Law to redress the problem, the HKSAR Government decided to seek an interpretation to, rather than an amendment of, the relevant Basic Law provisions from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC). The NPCSC issued an interpretation in favour of the Government in June 1999.

Although interpretation of the Basic Law is within the power of the NPCSC, critics considered that the judicial independence of Hong Kong is undermined by the procedure taken. The Government argued otherwise.

2.2 Basic Law Article 23

Main article: Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23

In 2003, the HKSAR Government proposed to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law by legislating against acts such as treason, subversion, secession and sedition. However, there are concerns that the legislation might infringe on human rights. Some are also worried that the legislation might introduce the mainland's concept of national security into the HKSAR via the proposed power of proscribing organisations that endanger the security of the state. General dissatisfaction with the Tung administration led to the July 1st protests in 2003.

After the mass protest, the Liberal Party, whose support is essential for the passage of the legislation schedule for July 9 2003, called for a delay in passing the legislation. On July 6, Tung Chee Hwa announced that the second reading of the proposed legislation was to be postponed after James Tien of the Liberal Party resigned from the Executive Council and would have his party members vote for a postponement.

2.3 Universal suffrage

Towards the end of 2003, the focus of political controversy shifted to the dispute of how subsequent Chief Executive gets elected. The Basic Law's Article 45 stipulates that the eventual goal is universal suffrage; when and how to achieve that goal, however, remains open but controversial. Under the Basic Law, the earliest the constitution could be amended to allow for this is 2007. Arguments over this issue seemed to be responsible for a series of Mainland Chinese newspapers commentaries in February 2004 which stated that power over Hong Kong was only fit for "patriots."

The interpretation of the NPCSC to Annex I and II of the Basic Law, promulgated on April 6 2004, made it clear that the PRC Government has veto power over proposals on the electoral system under Basic Law. On April 26, 2004, the Standing Committee of National People's Congress has denied the possibility of universal suffrage in 2007 (for Chief Executive) and 2008 (for Legislative Council).

The NPCSC interpretation and decision were regarded as obstacles to the democratic development of Hong Kong by the democratic camp, and were criticized for lack of consultation with Hong Kong residents. On the other hand, the pro-government camp considered them to be in compliance with the legislative intent of the Basic Law and in line with the 'One-Country, Two-Systems' principle, and hoped that this would put an end to the controversies on development of political structure in Hong Kong.

2.4 The July 1st Protests

The first July 1st protest took place in 2003 after the SARS outbreak also in response to the Article 23 incident and general dissatisfaction with the Hong Kong government. Fearing of the loss of freedom of speech and other freedoms, as well as a general dissatisfaction against the Government, prompted a mass protest of hundreds of thousands of people on July 1, 2003. The planners originally wanted all four football courts in Victoria Park, but two of the courts were booked for a pro-Beijing festival and fair. The organizers originally predicted only 20,000 demonstrators would participate. The actual number ranged from 300,000 (as quoted by the police) to 700,000 (as quoted by protesters) and even 1,000,000 (quoted from a pro- Falun Gong agency), but the generally accepted figure is 500,000, which is just less than one tenth of the population. Their route stretched from Victoria Park football field through Causeway and Central to the Government's Central offices. Nonetheless, the large numbers meant that people were still starting the march as late as 10PM.

In dissatisfaction of the NPC's interpretation on Basic Law that universal suffrage is impossible for Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections in 2007 and 2008 respectively, and in fear of the loss of freedom of speech fueled by the heated patriotic debate and abrupt pause of popular radio programmes allegedly suppressed by Beijing authorities, another similar protest march occurred on the same day in 2004. The again peaceful march took the same route from last year from Victoria Park through Hennessy road and by Admiralty and Central MTR stations, and ended at the Government's Central Offices. The numbers were estimated to be 530,000 by organisers, whilst the police gave the numbers to be circa-200,000. The probable lower numbers were attributed to the fact that it was the hottest July 1 ever recorded, at 34 degrees Celsius. Another suggested reason is that a large number of people stayed up late until the early morning to watch the Euro 2004 match between Portugal and Holland. There is a noticeable fall in the general anger of the crowds when compared to the 2003 march, as attributed to the fact that the Hong Kong economy is showing signs of recovery and the dissolution of Article 23.

However there was much criticism as to the slogan for this year's protest by some Beijing bureaucrats and the pro-Beijing alliances. The phrase "Return power to the people" was particularly inflammatory because it implies that power was taken away from the people which they never really had. Some pro-democracy political leaders, like Lau Chin-shek , had considered changing the phrase, but many criticized this move even more as this was seen as a way of satisfying Beijing, and the original organizers keep the phrase all the way through. The planners instructed the protesters to wear white, as a sign of democracy. Furthermore, unlike the previous year, the protest march started as soon as the football field venues were 80% full, causing the protest to start half hour earlier. Learning from the previous year, planning was much more smooth this year, allowing more of the road to be open as well as starting earlier. Most of the protesters had finished their march by 7PM, ending earlier than the previous year.

3 Nationality & Citizenship

The majority of the population of Hong Kong are Chinese citizens and are entitled to hold a Hong Kong passport issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Most of them (about 3.5 million) also have the right to hold a British passport. Under British nationality law, most Hongkongers prior to the handover had British Dependent Territories citizenship. Upon handover, most would have lost this status and became nationals of the People's Republic of China. Some people in Hong Kong were unhappy about losing their British nationality, and as a result the United Kingdom created a special new national status that Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citizens could apply for.

British National (Overseas) status was given effect by the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986. Article 4(1) of the Order provided that on and after 1 July 1987, there would be a new form of British nationality, the holders of which would be known as British Nationals (Overseas). Article 4(2) of the Order provided that adults and minors who had a connection to Hong Kong were entitled to make an application to become British Nationals (Overseas) by registration.

Becoming a British National (Overseas) was therefore voluntary and was not an automatic process and indeed many eligible people who had the requisite connections to Hong Kong never applied to become British Nationals (Overseas).

No person could become a British National (Overseas) automatically for having been born in Hong Kong, by descent or by any involuntary means. A person became a British National (Overseas) by making a valid application on the prescribed form to the British authorities to be registered for that nationality, and applicants only became a British National (Overseas) when their application was approved and duly registered by the British Home Secretary or by the British Governor of Hong Kong acting on behalf of the Home Secretary.

A special group of British Nationals (Overseas) were the non-Chinese ethnic minorities of Hong Kong. They were primarily of Indian and Pakistani descent, but also persons of Sri Lankan, Nepali, Filipino, and Portuguese descent. After the handover to China, they would not have the ability to become Chinese citizens, as they were not of Chinese race. It was successfully argued that they would effectively become stateless - they would have only a form of British nationality but no right of abode in the UK, and the right of abode in Hong Kong but no Chinese nationality. The Rt. Hon. Jack Straw MP, present Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs said in January 1997 that a claim that British National (Overseas) status amounts to British nationality “is pure sophistry”.

The ethnic minorities campaigned to be granted full British citizenship. In response to expressions of concern in both Houses of Parliament as far as back as the late 1980s, the British Prime Minister discussed the issue with the British Home Secretary during the week of 27-31 January 1997. The Home Secretary appeared to be in a minority in the Cabinet in resisting the grant of British citizenship to the group, and the Prime Minister suggested that the Cabinet might need to resolve the issue. The Home Secretary agreed to consider the matter over the weekend. On 4 February 1997, the Government announced that provisions would be made to grant full British citizenship (with the right of abode in the UK) to the solely British ethnic minorities of Hong Kong. The subsequently enacted British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997 gives them an entitlement to acquire full British citizenship by making an application to register for that status.

4 Political parties and leaders

Main article: List of political parties in Hong Kong

• Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood ( Frederick Fung Kin-kee, chairman)
• Citizens Party (Alex Chan Kai-chung, chairperson)
• Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) ( Ma Lik, chairman)
• Democratic Party ( Yeung Sum, chairman)
• The Frontier ( Emily Lau Wai-hing, convenor)
• Hong Kong Progressive Alliance ( Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen, chairman)
• Liberal Party ( James Tien Pei-chun, chairman)

note: Political blocs include:

• pro-democracy - Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood, Citizens Party, Democratic Party, The Frontier
• pro-Beijing - Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Progressive Alliance, Liberal Party

5 Political pressure groups and leaders

• Article 45 Concern Group (pro-democracy)
• Chinese General Chamber of Commerce (pro-Beijing)
• Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong
• Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (pro-democracy) ( Lau Chin-shek , President; Lee Cheuk-yan , General Secretary)
• Federation of Hong Kong Industries
• Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (pro-Beijing) ( Cheng Yiu-tong , President)
• Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China ( Szeto Wah , Chairman)
• Hong Kong and Kowloon Trade Union Council (pro-Taiwan)
• Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce
• Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union ( Cheung Man-kwong , President)
• Liberal Democratic Federation (Hu Fa-kuang, Chairman)
• Indigenous Communists in Hong Kong (hardline pro-Beijing)

6 See also

• flag of Hong Kong
• foreign relations of Hong Kong
• One country, two systems
• District Council of Hong Kong
• Politics of China

7 External Links

• HKSAR Government web site
• Executive Council
• Legislative Council

Hong Kong *

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