The second transfer of power is seen as the culmination and manifestation of Hong Kong`s relations with the mainland on three fronts – political-ideological, civil-cultural and economic. Parts of these fronts have come to the forefront of the recent protests, but may also have been overshadowed by the dominant ethnonationalist and vocal (represented by the right) or democratic-pluralist (represented by the left) discourses that have spread throughout the movement. As for the approach to living constitutionalism, there are also many deadly challenges. The first would be to say that the adaptability of the Basic Law makes the OCTs work in a rapidly changing society. When interpreting «unchanged for 50 years», the language used as well as the traditions and customs that have given meaning to this language must be respected. Footnote 339 Otherwise, legal certainty and continuity of operation of the OCTs would be lost. Secondly, the application of constitutionalism in article 5 of the Basic Law also raises concerns about constitutional validity. As Zachary Elkins, Tom Ginsburg and James Melton show, three mutually reinforcing traits – inclusion, flexibility and specificity – can increase the likelihood that a constitution will endure. Footnote 340 Richard Albert further argues that constitutional states prefer to maintain legal continuity, which will lead to a period of constitutional survival. Footnote 341 The 2047 warranty has never been interpreted as anything less than iron. Hong Kongers lived with the provisions of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law. Their basic system of government and laws were protected from interference until 2047. None of these documents had depended on this question of «respect».
Equally troubling is the White Paper`s ambiguous reference to a kind of «test of patriotism» for those seeking office, including judicial posts, footnote 342, but this means that China is abandoning the OCTs. But as 2047 approaches, companies will want to have certainties about what will happen next. David Webb, a former investment banker and corporate governance advocate who has lived in Hong Kong since the early 1990s, recalled the financial turmoil that began nearly 20 years before the official handover. Between 1982 and 1983, Hong Kong`s currency lost 25% of its value, peaking at an all-time low of HK$9.80 against the dollar on Black Saturday. «They would no longer be bound by Article 5 and the joint statement,» he said, referring to another deal with Britain. The handover marked the end of British rule in Hong Kong, Britain`s last major overseas territory. Although British Hong Kong did not have priority status over the other British dependent territories under the law established by Parliament (as they were classified at the time before the introduction of the term British Overseas Territory in 2002), Hong Kong was by far the most populous and economically strong. In 1997, the colony had about 6.5 million inhabitants, which represented about 97% of the population of all British dependent territories at the time (the second largest, Bermuda, with a population of only about 62,000 in 1997). With a gross domestic product of about $180 billion in the last year of British rule,[145] Hong Kong`s economy was about 11% as large as Britain`s.
[146] Although the economies of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong were measured separately, the retrocession meant that the British economy in the broadest sense became much smaller (in comparison, the takeover of Hong Kong increased the size of the Chinese economy, which was then smaller than that of the United Kingdom, by 18.4%). [147] Compared to Hong Kong, Bermuda (like its population, the largest economically of the remaining British territories) had a GDP of only $4.7 billion in 2017. [148] «In 2047, many Hong Kongers are afraid that they will not be able to hold elections, they will not be able to go on Facebook or Instagram, as is the case in China today. In 2047, our freedom in Hong Kong will become nothing. That is why we need to take to the streets and tell the government what we think. Alex Lo, 22, an OCTS student, is a gigantic constitution designed in the 1980s for one-fifth of the world`s population. When it comes to national unification, the question speaks of its own meaning for billions of Chinese. It seems time for the Chinese people to decide on the important question of whether or not they are able to establish a good government through reflection and election.
Footnote 227 When the constitutional time came for Hong Kong, the fate of the former British colony fundamentally changed. It is important to note that the Basic Law modifies a fundamental norm (or basic norm)footnote 228 from a Celtic perspective. In the eyes of octS` founding fathers, «accident and violence» were not absolutely out of the question when circumstances fundamentally changed, but Hong Kong`s constitutional conception was based on a noble ideal that the two systems can and should coexist peacefully. The Basic Law insists that Hong Kong`s capitalist system will remain «unchanged for 50 years.» In doing so, the authors made a political commitment to the people of Hong Kong and also to the people of mainland China. It should be noted that the political commitment is binding on China as it has promised that the socialist system will not be practiced in Hong Kong. Secondly, the question arises as to how Hong Kong`s autonomous status can be guaranteed. In the long run, China faces the fundamental question of whether the socialist system will be practiced there after 2047. Will China be bound by its promise and how will it keep it? As has been shown, the problem of the time, common to many constitutional documents, is «to explain the problem of how the majority of today can be legitimately and legitimately linked to the limits of its power enacted generations ago, against its will». Footnote 229 When the political commitment «unchanged for 50 years» was written into the constitutional document, the sovereign assumed a sacred mission of maintaining the coexistence of the capitalist and socialist systems. An idealistic approach to political engagement is not a competition for the superiority of one system over another, but the chance for peaceful coexistence of the two systems.
The constitutional architects of the OCTS thought of the danger of «absorption», «assimilation» or even «intrusion» in the 1980s, when Hong Kong was much more economically advanced than the mainland. Deng and other Chinese leaders rejected the premise that Hong Kong would one day become a «base of subversion» to socialist China. Footnote 230 Deng`s confidence was based on two important considerations. First, a people`s liberation army garrison would prevent Hong Kong from becoming a «subversion base.» Second, China`s «reform and opening-up» would make the continent stronger. Today, China has the world`s second-largest economy and almost ubiquitous influences on Hong Kong.Footnote 231 When China`s Supreme Leader Deng Xiaoping first developed the «one country, two systems» vision in the 1980s, he saw the arrangement as an arrangement that would preserve the political-economic agreements in Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland relatively intact and with mutual non-interference. «Fifty years unchanged» has been proposed as a prescriptive and semi-binding prophecy about the expected duration of the maintenance in force of this particular constitutional order. Fifty years after 1997 – 2047 – the territory would organically lose its autonomous status. Hong Kong would then truly become a constituent part of China. When China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong from the British in 1997, it was under an agreement to grant the city a «high degree of autonomy» for 50 years. This agreement, known as «one country, two systems,» is almost halfway to its expiration date. Months of unrest on hong Kong`s streets, with hundreds of thousands of people protesting against the city`s perceived erosion of freedoms, have sharpened attention to one question: what will happen in 2047? «Unchanged for 50 years» is a clause of Chapter I of the Basic Law, which contains eleven articles containing general constitutional principles.
Footnote 260 Article 1 provides that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an inalienable part of the PRC. Article 2 authorizes the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to exercise a high degree of autonomy and to enjoy independent executive, legislative and judicial powers, including the final decision, in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law. Article 5 states that the «socialist system and socialist policies» cannot be practiced in the region and that the previous capitalist system and way of life will remain unchanged for 50 years. Footnote 261 In addition to the general provisions, it should also be noted that the preamble to the Basic Law mentions the OCT principle without explicit delay. Chinese scholars generally regard this provision as a «great importance» to which China must adhere. Footnote 262 How to interpret the phrase «unchanged for 50 years» in Section 5 GG? What exactly does the reference to «50 years» mean? Should it be interpreted as an explicit time limit or should we interpret it as a continuation of the OCT without explicit delay? And why should the authors of the Basic Law create such a sentence in Article 5 – a sentence unknown to the preamble of the Basic Law? The answers to these questions not only help us understand the essence of the Basic Law, but also give us a glimpse into Hong Kong`s constitutional future after 2047. «In 2047, our freedom in Hong Kong will become nothing,» he said. «That`s why we need to take to the streets and tell the government what we think.» Just as British colonial Hong Kong was described by Eurasian writer Han Suyin as «time borrowed in a borrowed place,» the clock is ticking until 2047. . .