The 30^th anniversary of the establishment of the Basic Law Consultative Committee

Today is the 30^th anniversary of the establishment of the Basic Law Consultative Committee (BLCC). In the evening, I hosted a reception at Government House to get together with BLCC members and thank them for their contributions to the drafting of the Basic Law and Hong Kong's smooth return to the Motherland.

Three decades ago, 180 people with different political views and from different sectors of the community, and all in their prime, assembled to witness the establishment of the BLCC. Then they began their work, which lasted for as long as four years or so. Most members convened at least once a week, and some met each other every day.

Today, three decades on, some of the members have left us and some are getting old. Nevertheless, the scenes of attending meetings together in those years are still vivid in my mind. I am grateful to all BLCC members for their dedicated efforts to realise Hong Kong's return to the Motherland and their contributions to the consultation exercises on the Basic Law. Without their hard work there can't be today's achievements.

On December 19, 1984, China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration. China announced that it would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong on July 1, 1997, and the basic policies of the Chinese Government regarding Hong Kong would be enshrined in the Basic Law. At its third session on April 10, 1985, the Sixth National People's Congress decided that the Basic Law Drafting Committee would be established to work on the drafting of the Basic Law. At its 11th session on June 18, 1985, the same Congress adopted the list of members of the Basic Law Drafting Committee.

On July 1, 1985, the Basic Law Drafting Committee held its first meeting. It planned to complete the drafting of the Basic Law in five years and commissioned its Hong Kong members to set up the BLCC.

The consultation regarding the drafting of the Basic Law is the longest and largest one in Hong Kong's history. After four or five years of drafting and consultation, the Basic Law was enacted by the National People's Congress on April 4, 1990, and became the most important constitutional document for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. Having fulfilled its mission, the BLCC was dissolved after the promulgation of the Basic Law.

Comprising 180 members from different sectors of Hong Kong, including the business, labour, political, professional, religious and civil service sectors, as well as hawkers, teachers and students, the BLCC was a highly representative body of and a microcosm of the Hong Kong community.

The BLCC Secretariat also took up the tasks of publicising the Basic Law and collating information. In 1986 and 1987, it arranged BLCC members to visit the Mainland and members of the Basic Law Drafting Committee in the Mainland to visit Hong Kong to listen to the views of various sectors of the community on numerous occasions. The BLCC also launched a Meet-the-Public Scheme to allow the public to express their views at the BLCC Secretariat. Eight special groups were set up to carry out in-depth study on the arrangements suitable for Hong Kong after its return to the Motherland and to give advice to the Basic Law Drafting Committee. In 1987, the drafting of the Basic Law entered the codification stage. After each meeting, the Hong Kong delegate of each special group under the Basic Law Drafting Committee immediately held a briefing session with the BLCC special groups so that BLCC members, apprised of the latest progress of the drafting work in a timely manner, could give instant advice to the Basic Law Drafting Committee. During the drafting process of the various chapters of the Basic Law, the BLCC launched extensive consultations inside and outside its meetings. As at the end of 1987, 15 initial reports and 57 final reports were submitted to the Basic Law Drafting Committee for reference, and over 120 000 copies of BLCC reports were distributed to the public. After more than two years' work, the Basic Law Drafting Committee issued a draft of all chapters of the Basic Law and put forward the Draft Basic Law for Solicitation of Opinions. At its seventh plenary meeting between April 26 and 28, 1988, the Basic Law Drafting Committee approved the publication of the Draft Basic Law for Solicitation of Opinions and launched a formal public consultation exercise.

Completed on such a basis, the Basic Law is not only a legally binding document. It also fully reflects the aspirations of the community at that time for the post-1997 political, economic and social systems. That was also why we insisted that the Basic Law and the relevant decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress had to be strictly followed when discussing the constitutional reform in the past two years.

When the BLCC was established, I was elected one of the 19 executive members by the 180 BLCC members. In 1988, I was elected the Secretary General by the Executive Committee. Afterwards, I hosted two large-scale consultation exercises, one on the Draft Basic Law for Solicitation of Opinions in 1988, and the other one on the Basic Law (Draft) in 1989. During each exercise, nearly 1 million copies of the document were distributed to the public so that they could give their views based on its content. We also asked an advertising company to produce television announcements and a theme song for the BLCC.

During the drafting of the Basic Law, people from different sectors of the community and all walks of life, regardless of their nationalities and political views, made concerted endeavours to hammer out Hong Kong's future constitutional document and worked together for Hong Kong's future with a spirit of mutual understanding and accommodation.

I would like to pay tribute to members of the Basic Law Drafting Committee, the BLCC and the public for their concerted efforts in the drafting of the Basic Law and their contributions to the consultation work. I hope that the whole community will uphold the spirit of collaboration, as the BLCC did in addressing the issue of 1997, and build a better Hong Kong in the next 30 years by capitalising on the available opportunities and overcoming all the challenges ahead.

December 18, 2015