ABSTRACT
The evidence for the importance Hong Kong people attached to civil liberties is that this became an issue of domestic importance after 1984 and, of course, of central significance after the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Basic Law does conform with what the Hong Kong people thought the Sino-British agreement meant. It matters little what the Hong Kong people want in the transitional period, for the Hong Kong government will continue to bend the constitutional provisions in accordance with the Basic Law. The agreement and the Basic Law have been used by the Chinese and British governments to attempt to legitimize a new political order after 1997. On the surface, they speak to four sets of central concerns-the autonomy of the post-1997 government, the development of representative institutions, the maintenance of civil liberties, and continued economic prosperity-that are appropriately regarded as critical to the Hong Kong people's acceptance of the future regime.
