The central government has every right to involve itself in and to have a say in the constitutional development of Hong Kong because this involves State affairs and the political system.

Xiao Weiyun, a member of the erstwhile Basic Law Drafting Committee, said this yesterday.

However, he disagreed with the idea of election of the Hong Kong SAR's chief executive by universal suffrage in 2007. Universal suffrage, he said, had nothing to do with the quest for "returning the power to the people".

The central government must step in because (constitutional development) involves the relationship between the central and the SAR authorities, the relationship between one country and two systems, as well as the prosperity and stability and future development in Hong Kong, he said.

"Since the chief executive is appointed by the central government, (Annex I of the Basic Law) is therefore worded in a way that the appointment requires the approval of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress," he said. "That is why President Hu Jintao expressed serious concern on constitutional development in Hong Kong. It was not any `ordinary' nor `trivial' concern and we must not take these few words lightly."

Xiao, a law professor at Peking University, is in Hong Kong for a seminar entitled "Constitutional Development and the Basic Law", together with Xia Yong, a professor from the law faculty of the Chinese Social Sciences Academy.

Regarding the pace of constitutional development, Xiao said there was gradual progress as the number of directly-elected members of the Legislative Council has been increasing every term to reach 30 in 2004. For the election of the chief executive, the size of the Election Committee has also increased from 400 to 800.

"It is clearly written that if there is a need, the selection method of the chief executive after 2007 can be amended, and it shall not be amended if there is no need," he said. "If we really meant universal suffrage in 2007, we would have put it down in writing. The reason why we did not put it there was simply to look at the actual situation and be progressive."

Referring to the call for "returning the power to the people", he said the power was returned when Hong Kong was reunited with China on July 1, 1997.

"To whom should the power be returned?" Xiao asked. "It is not right to say universal suffrage is tantamount to returning power to the people."

At the seminar, Xia agreed with Xiao that there was no such thing as residual power as the power of the SAR government came from the central government.

Although he said he was told that lawyers in Hong Kong had a vague understanding of the Basic Law, he realized a greater consensus among the people of Hong Kong after the handover.

"There is greater awareness of 'Love the Country and Love Hong Kong', trust in the central government, reunification of China, and the trust in the new leadership," he said.

Xia took pride in being called one of the "four guardians of law" by the Hong Kong media. "I feel grateful because I am safeguarding the law, which is a sensible thing," he said.

He called on the Hong Kong people to persevere in the principle of "One Country, Two Systems", and do more to understand the Basic Law, achieve consensus and be sensible.

Earlier this week, Chief Secretary Donald Tsang announced that the taskforce on constitutional development will leave for Beijing soon after the Lunar New Year.

(China Daily HK Edition January 17, 2004)