Page:Hong Kong Basic Law consultation report vol. 1.djvu/73

 Chapter II: Relationship between the Central Authorities and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Article 14

1. As to whether the People's Liberation Army (PLA) should be stationed in Hong Kong, a member was of the opinion that, in principle, the PLA should be stationed in Hong Kong in order to give expression to sovereignty. Furthermore, since Hong Kong is a cosmopolitan city, it is possible that foreign troops will pay frequent visits to Hong Kong after 1997 and the local army headquarters will have to entertain them. However, the recent events in Beijing have made Hong Kong people wary of the PLA. A compromise solution will be to station the PLA in border areas (e.g. Shenzhen) and not in Hong Kong, but with an office of the army headqviarters headed by the Chief Commander of the three armed forces set up in Hong Kong. Under normal circumstances, the Chief Commander and the military office will be responsible for the reception of guests and liaison. The assistance of the PLA stationed m border areas will only be sought in times of need. Members held that such an arrangement not only would give expression to sovereignty of the Central Authorities, but would also relieve the anxiety of Hong Kong people. In addition, to station the PLA in Shenzhen where the standard of living is lower would lighten the burden of the Central Government.

2. A member indicated that even though it was specified in this article that "in addition to abiding by national laws, members of the garrison shall abide by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region". should the two sets of laws be inconsistent with each other, it would be a great problem as to which set of laws the PLA should abide by. It was therefore suggested that the rules and regulations to be observed by members of the garrison be specified clearly in the laws of Hong Kong.

3. With regard to the situation mentioned above, a member suggested that the provision "members of the garrison shall abide by national laws" be deleted because all the national laws to be observed by servicemen were already spelt out in their code of conduct. Further, the PLA will be stationed here for the defence of Hong Kong and should therefore only abide by the laws of Hong Kong. Thus, it should not be necessary to state again that they shall abide by the national laws.

4. A member held that the garrison should only be allowed to take part in maintaining the internal law and order in Hong Kong upon the request of the Chief Executive. And the powder of the Chief Executive to request assistance from the garrison must also be appropriately checked by the legislature.