ABSTRACT
The Joint Declaration resolved that a Basic Law would be enacted and promulgated by the National People’s Congress for the government and administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. To ensure peaceful re-unification, Chinese leadership conceived of the novelty of ‘one country, two systems’, which postulated the capitalist system under Chinese sovereignty, practising a socialist polity under the banner of the Communist Party of China. A closer look at the Basic Law indicates that a high degree of autonomy in content and substance goes to the domain of economy – the mainstay of Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity. Under the Basic Law, the Governor is replaced by the Chief Executive, who is the head of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Hong Kong government came out with a draft proposal to introduce a comprehensive Bill of Rights for the protection and promotion of basic human rights in Hong Kong.
