Abstract
The Basic Law, to be formally enacted by the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (NPC) in the early 1990s, will determine the political organization of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR) after July 1, 1997. While the Basic Law is to be developed on the basis of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which not only embodies the political arrangements for the peaceful transition of sovereignty in 1997, but also lays down the basic framework for political, social and economic autonomy of the future Hong Kong SAR government – the legitimacy of the Basic Law and of the Hong Kong SAR derives from article 31 of the Chinese Constitution. Moreover, it is the NPC which is vested with the authority to enact laws governing the systems to be instituted in special administrative regions in China and the NPC’s Standing Committee which has the exclusive right to interpret the Chinese Constitution, which will decide on the exact political organization of the Hong Kong SAR government.