THE proposed establishment of a shadow government next year is a deeply disturbing development. It unequivocally breaches the Joint Declaration and will cause great unease, both within the civil service and throughout Hong Kong.
The proposal is not yet set in stone. So far it has emerged only in a speech to the Hong Kong Management Association by the Preliminary Working Committee member, Sir Sze-yuen Chung. The speech appeared to be Sir Sze-yuen's manifesto to prove his credentials for selection as chief executive-designate next summer.
But mainland officials were unwilling to repudiate it yesterday and experience has shown such unsavoury ideas are rarely put forward in public by Beijing's allies unless they have already been approved in private by the central Government. That has consistently been the pattern - from the provisional legislature to the emasculation of the Bill of Rights - so the same must be assumed to be true in this case unless there is a firm indication to the contrary.
It remains unclear how the setting up of a provisional government secretariat as early as the end of next year can be justified. Certainly it is impossible to reconcile with the Joint Declaration which clearly states that Britain remains 'responsible for the administration of Hong Kong' until June 30, 1997.
Even Sir Sze-yuen was forced to admit that the move 'could create some concern in Hong Kong and particularly in the British Hong Kong Government'. That is putting it mildly.
Confusion If the plan were implemented, one immediate effect would be to shatter the agreed arrangements for a transitional budget. Instead, it now seems that the shadow government will prepare a separate Special Administrative Region budget, to come into effect on July 1, 1997. This will cause financial confusion. Even more destabilising will be the economic uncertainty caused by not knowing who is in charge during the final six months of British sovereignty. Civil servants will be the worst affected. They will be placed in an impossible position: forced to report to two masters and unsure whose orders to obey. Some will have to work alongside those designated to replace them. Many may prefer to resign, rather than undergo such a demoralising experience.
The mere existence of a provisional government casts strong doubt on the Basic Law's assurances that all civil servants, save for a few principal officials, can remain in position beyond 1997. If that were really the case, there would be no need for a second secretariat to begin shadowing their work even before the handover.