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Hong Kong Basic Law
OpinionLetters

Letters | The choice is clear for Hong Kong: be a unique Chinese city or just another one

  • Hong Kong has a long tradition of using British common law, now balanced with the Basic Law
  • Such features must be emphasised to ensure Hong Kong’s status as a special city and not just another part of China

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Why you can trust SCMP
The USS Chancellorsville anchored in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour on November 21. The USS Chancellorsville, USS Curtis Wilbur and the aircraft-carrier USS Ronald Reagan were among a trio of American naval vessels that were allowed to make a port call, days after a US Congressional report expressed concern that Beijing was tightening its grip on Hong Kong. Photo: Bloomberg
Letters
Michael Chugani was certainly right to point out some flaws in our administrators at the senior level who have interpreted the trade war situation wrongly, with even the chief executive herself refuting the United States’ criticisms as interference in the internal affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“Why Carrie Lam shouldn’t count on Trump to spare Hong Kong”, November 29).
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Her tone was in line with the spokesman from the mainland. It seems that she has forgotten our unique status as a special administrative region. If the Hong Kong SAR is relegated to the status of an ordinary Chinese city, the privileges granted by the US can never be reacquired.
But, at the most critical moment, it seems that the government made a U-turn and approved the visit of the American flotilla led by the aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan. But the errors in judgment of the Hong Kong government are written on the wall.

Why should our senior officials always forget our role as a special administrative region? Actually, their interpretation of the Basic Law reflects their lack of understanding of the tradition of the laws and customs of Hong Kong. In fact, if there is any conflict arising from the interpretation of the Basic Law and British common law, the Basic Law prevails.

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Many elites in Hong Kong always blame our young people for not knowing or understanding our history, but they themselves do not know they have a beam in their eye.

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