'One Country, Two Systems' Upheld: HK Financial Secretary

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 07, 2002

'One Country, Two Systems' Upheld: HK Financial Secretary

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A Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government official told a US business community Thursday (Washington time) that the principle of "one country, two systems" has been upheld since the handover of Hong Kong five years ago.

Antony Leung, the HKSAR financial secretary, made the remarks at a luncheon hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, according to the HKSAR's Government Information Services Friday.

'One country, two systems' provides unique advantages to Hong Kong that other Chinese cities don't have. Five years after reunification, I think it is reasonable to say that its implementation has been successful and Hong Kong people are running Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy promised in the Basic Law, Leung said.

The Central People's government has been exemplary in observing its hands off policy, while the freedoms people enjoyed prior to the handover continue to be enjoyed today, he said.

"We also have the key institutional strengths to help maintain stability in a region..., the rule of law, underpinned by an independent judiciary, a level playing field, a clean and efficient administration, and the free and unfettered flow of news information," he said.

Now the HKSAR government's crucial role is to protect the integrity of principle, while ensuring the boundary crossing does not impede this enormous increase in economic activity and closer relations, he said, adding it means the maintaining of Hong Kong's status as a separate customs, immigration and monetary territory while making the flow of cross-boundary activities as smooth as possible to improve HKSAR's links Guangdong Province.

"Indeed, our links with neighboring Guangdong Province, especially the Pearl River Delta, are changing dramatically as our two economies become more inter-dependent.

"We are expanding our existing road and rail links and building new one. We are examining an express rail link to shorten the traveling time between Hong Kong and Guangzhhou to less than one hour," he said.

Proposals are also being discussed to enhance cooperation between the Financial markets in the mainland and Hong Kong, as talks between the HKSAR and the Central Government on a closer economic Partnership Arrangement have begun, he added.

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