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'Basic Law offers room for development'
By Joseph Li (HK Edition)

The Basic Law is a living thing from which room for new development can be explored, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam said yesterday.

Lam also said under the "one country two systems" principle, there should exist unique designs and arrangements in order to differentiate the two systems.

Lam said this at the closing ceremony of a seminar on the review and anticipation of the Basic Law that forms part of the 10th anniversary programs.

Apart from local legal academics and experts, participants from the mainland, Macao and Taiwan also attended the two-day seminar that ended yesterday.

Lam highlighted three special arrangements that differentiate the two systems.

For example, the Hong Kong SAR passport is a system of two passports in one country and the passport now enjoys visa-free entry to over 130 countries or regions.

Second, Hong Kong enjoys greater autonomy now enjoyed by provinces and states under the federal system.

Besides, Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal has final jurisdiction of cases and such power is not enjoyed by the highest courts in US and Canadian provinces.

However, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee has the final say in the interpretation of Basic Law provisions, he added.

In summing up the seminar, Shiu Shin-por, seminar organizor, said there were pluralistic views in the seminar.

Four major topics namely: relation between the central and local authorities, interpretation of the Basic Law, the judicial system and the Basic Law, and the political system, were discussed.

On the first topic, the role of the central authorities was discussed. For the second topic, participants exchanged views on whether the NPC Standing Committee should retain the power to interpret the Basic Law.

On the fourth topic, the role of political parties and their development trend were discussed, so were the issues of executive-led government and the executive-legislative relations.

"We came to no solutions as the seminar did not attempt to arrive at unanimous views," Shiu told a press conference.

The organizer would compile the views expressed at the seminar and present them to the central and local governments for reference, he added.

(HK Edition 06/01/2007 page6)