Deputies propose body to examine mini-constitution
About a dozen Hong Kong deputies to the NPC are backing a motion to set up a system to review enforcement of the Basic Law in Hong Kong.
Peter Wong Man-kwong, the Hong Kong delegate to the nation's top legislative body who is sponsoring the motion, has proposed the NPC Standing Committee set up a permanent body to examine implementation of the city's mini-constitution over the past six years.
He said another option was to expand the terms of reference of the Basic Law Committee under the auspices of the standing committee.
But Mr Wong admitted it was difficult to secure the backing of 30 deputies, a requirement for a motion to be submitted to the standing committee. Today is the deadline for submitting proposals to the NPC.
Pro-Beijing politicians are calling for a review of the implementation of the Basic Law after one of its drafters, Xiao Weiyun, told a forum in Hong Kong in January that no-confidence votes against principal officials breached the Basic Law.
Ma Lik, a deputy and chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, said a new body to monitor enforcement of the mini-constitution was unnecessary.
Mr Wong said some deputies were reluctant to sign up for his motion because they considered it too controversial.
Another Hong Kong deputy, Victor Sit Fung-shuen, has proposed to the NPC that all department heads and chairmen of important advisory bodies in Hong Kong must be Chinese citizens. The Basic Law states that only Chinese citizens among permanent residents in Hong Kong can fill posts such as policy secretaries, ICAC commissioner and police commissioner.
Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, a Hong Kong delegate to the CPPCC, proposed that the State Council's National School of Administration provided courses on the history of the 'one country, two systems' principle and the Basic Law to educate Hong Kong's senior officials.
'It's crucial for Hong Kong officials to understand the central government's perspective on 'one country, two systems' and the mini-constitution,' Mr Wong added.
The institute, which is responsible for training officials with State Council departments, provides courses on the nation's political and economic situation in collaboration with Hong Kong's Civil Service Bureau.
The head of a new central government think-tank to plot strategy on Hong Kong's political development is to meet Hong Kong deputies tomorrow. A Hong Kong delegate said that Zhu Yucheng, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Research Institute, was likely to canvass their views on the city's constitutional development.
