The Hong Kong government and the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR (Liaison Office) jointly held an online seminar on Constitution Day on Saturday (Dec. 4) afternoon.
Zhang Yong, deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, and deputy director of the HK Basic Law Committee, delivered a speech of nearly half an hour at the seminar, pointing out that due to historical reasons, HK has not yet fully established an effective connection and institutional alignment with the national system in many areas.
He stressed that in order to implement "one country, two systems" and maintain the constitutional order of the SAR, five principles must be upheld, including insisting on the status of the Constitution as the fundamental law of the country, insisting on "Constitution-based governance" and "administering the HKSAR according to the rule of law," insisting on the principle of "unitary system," insisting on the system of People's Congress, and insisting on the supervision of the implementation of the Constitution.
Zhang pointed out that the Constitution is the legislative basis and source of validity of the Basic Law, emphasizing that "one country, two systems" is based on the Constitution, and that the SAR must promote the awareness of upholding the Constitution.
"It should be understood that local power is derived from the Central Authorities, and the standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) has the right to monitor the SAR's legislative power, timely detect and correct any non-conformity or even violation of the Constitution and the Basic Law," he said.
He also mentioned that in the past two years, the Central Authorities have been taking stock of the situation and applying the rule of law to properly address the critical circumstances in HK through the enactment of National Security Law and the improvement of the electoral system, bringing the city back on the right track.
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