Liaison office chief says Constitution is key

HONG KONG - To solve new issues arising during the implementation of the "one country, two systems", the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) must correctly recognize its new constitutional basis, which is jointly formed by the nation's Constitution and the HKSAR's Basic Law, the head of the central government's liaison office in the city said on Friday.

Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR, made the remarks in an online seminar on the nation's Constitution Day.

The past political and legal disputes showed that some Hong Kong people only recognized the preservation of Hong Kong's original legal system, but ignored the fundamental change of the SAR's constitutional basis, which is formed jointly by the Constitution and the HKSAR Basic Law with the return of the SAR in 1997.

This is the root of Hong Kong's recent turmoil, Luo said. He was referring to the prolonged street violence last year since June that had rocked the city.

All of Hong Kong society should realize that only by respecting the facts of the SAR's new constitutional basis can Hong Kong solve the new problems emerging in the implementation of the "one country, two systems", Luo said.

Only with the guarantee of both the Constitution and the SAR's Basic Law, can Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy be implemented, the rule of law upheld, and its prosperity and stability can be maintained, he said.