Government Moves To Clarify Press Release Confusion

With Hong Kong facing a burgeoning constitutional crisis, the SAR government late on Monday moved to clarify the confusion caused by its recent contradictory press releases concerning Article 22 of the Basic Law and whether it applied to the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government (LOPCG) or the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) here. It reiterated that the Liaison Office was authorised by Beijing to handle issues relating to Hong Kong and it could exercise supervisory power on major matters.

Earlier on Monday, the Hong Kong Bar Association had warned that recent statements by the SAR government and Beijing's Liaison Office regarding whether the latter must abide by Article 22 of the Basic Law had caused "deep public unease", and were "plainly inconsistent" with previous assertions.

Pan democratic and pro-establishment politicians have also been arguing over the matter with Democratic Party lawmaker Helena Wong accusing mainland authorities of "twisting" the Basic Law and Beijing loyalist Tam Yiu-chung saying the offices have always had the power to supervise matters relating to the SAR, even if this was not stated in the Basic Law, and even if the government itself didn't quite understand it.

"Article 22(2) of the Basic Law stipulates that if there is a need for departments of the central government, or for provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the central government to set up offices in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, they must obtain the consent of the government of the Region and the approval of the Central People's Government," the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said in a statement issued just before midnight.

The bureau said the Liaison Office had inherited the role of the Xinhua News Agency - which represented the central government here prior to the Handover - and therefore did not need to be established under Article 22.

"The Xinhua News Agency (Hong Kong Branch), the antecedent of LOCPG, was founded in May 1947. It had all along discharged relevant responsibilities in Hong Kong as the representative office authorised by the Central People’s Government (CPG). The Agency continued to operate as an office authorised by the CPG after Hong Kong's return to the Motherland. In December 1999, the State Council decided to change the name of 'Xinhua News Agency (Hong Kong Branch)' to 'Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region'. Hence, the Liaison Office was not set up in accordance with Article 22(2) of the Basic Law," the government said.

It went on to say that all offices set up by the central government, and their personnel, would act in accordance with One Country, Two Systems, the Basic Law and the laws of the SAR.

The government also explained the process of how the press releases had been issued, saying the first one issued last Saturday had contained an inaccuracy.

"In the afternoon of April 18, the first press release titled 'Government responds to media enquiries on remarks by HKMAO and LOCPG' was issued. As the sentence 'the LOCPG is one of the three organisations set up by the central government in accordance with Article 22(2) of the Basic Law' is factually inaccurate, a revised press release was issued to the media to supersede the first one in the evening of the same day," it said.

The bureau said the third press release had been put out early on Sunday to provide further details and to also clarify that the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was set up here in accordance with Article 13 of the Basic Law, which refers to foreign affairs, and that the People's Liberation Army garrison had been set up in accordance with Article 14, which covers defence.