Books: 'Introduction to the Hong Kong Basic Law', by Danny Gittings

by Danny Gittings
Hong Kong University Press
4 stars
Cliff Buddle

The dramatic story of Hong Kong's return to China and the 16 years which have followed is not always an easy one to understand.

Controversial issues such as universal suffrage, national security laws or the right of abode have been the subject of much debate.

But these are complex matters underpinned by a unique legal document: the Hong Kong Basic Law. A grasp of what is sometimes referred to as the city's "mini-constitution" is, therefore, essential to understanding Hong Kong today. And Gittings' Introduction to the Hong Kong Basic Law is a good place to start.

Many of us approach law books with trepidation. But Gittings, a legal academic, used to be a journalist and this shows in his ability to make the book accessible to the general reader. Amid the often technical legal arguments about the Basic Law it is easy to forget what a good story lies behind it. This is the law underpinning the "one country, two systems" concept governing Hong Kong since the handover in 1997.

Gittings traces the history of the law from the first Sino-British negotiations. Rather than being the carefully calibrated result of a long and thoughtful process, he writes, the Basic Law is the result of "a series of historical accidents".

The drafting history of the Basic Law makes for interesting reading, with the benefit of more than two decades of hindsight. As Gittings points out, the debates which took place during that process in the late 1980s have had a profound effect on issues facing Hong Kong today.