The courts will retain a major role in deciding the meaning of the Basic Law, and intervention from Beijing will be rare, an adviser to the NPC Standing Committee said yesterday.
Professor Albert Chen Hung-yee, a member of the Basic Law Committee, which advises the Standing Committee on its interpretations, said the precedent set by Friday's landmark right of abode ruling was not as far-reaching as had been claimed by the Government.
He was speaking after a conference on China's constitution as pressure grew for limits to be placed on the circumstances in which Beijing will intervene.
'I expect the Standing Committee and the Government will exercise self-restraint so that in future the Standing Committee will only deal with matters concerning the relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland.
'I don't think the Standing Committee will interpret the Basic Law frequently or even in the foreseeable future. So the Hong Kong courts will still play a very major role in interpreting the Basic Law,' said Professor Chen, who is Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Hong Kong.
Friday's ruling by the Court of Final Appeal sparked concern by giving Beijing unrestricted power to make interpretations that are binding on the SAR's courts.
It declared valid a National People's Congress Standing Committee interpretation in June, requested by the Government, which overturned an earlier judgment of the court in favour of mainland-born migrants.
