It is well recognized that "One Country, Two Systems" is working well in Hong Kong and that people's rights and freedoms continue to be upheld, a Hong Kong government spokesman said Wednesday.

He also noted that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government will continue to run the SAR in strict accordance with the Basic Law.

He made the remark in response to a US bipartisan commission report on the issue of Hong Kong's political development.

The congressionally-mandated report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission expressed concern about recent developments in Hong Kong.

It said the decision against universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008 had eroded the high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong.

It asked Congress and the Bush administration to see if developments in Hong Kong had invoked the US-Hong Kong Policy Act and to revaluate the separate treatment to Hong Kong in the areas of air services, customs, immigration, visas and export controls.

The spokesman said that the Basic Law had clearly provided for the ultimate aim of the selection of the chief executive and the election of all members of the Legislative Council by universal suffrage.

The government would actively promote constitutional development in Hong Kong on the basis of "One Country, Two Systems" and the Basic Law, he added.

He stressed that the National People's Congress Standing Committee has the power to interpret the Basic Law.

"The exercise of that power by the NPCSC is legal and constitutional, and has in no way affected Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy," he said.

Chief Secretary Donald Tsang Wednesday also refuted the US report. He said both the central and the SAR governments are handling the issue of constitutional development in strict accordance with the Basic Law.

He said the issue of constitutional development is being dealt with in a pragmatic manner.

"Regarding election of the chief executive in 2007 and the Legislative Council in 2008, Hong Kong society has come to a stage of discussing proposals suitable to Hong Kong," he told the press Wednesday.

"I hope the report would not yield any adverse impact on their support for 'One Country, Two Systems' and particularly US-Hong Kong bilateral ties and co-operation," he said.

Major political parties in Hong Kong did not find the report welcoming.

Ip Kwok-him, vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, criticized the US report for meddling with the internal affairs of China and Hong Kong. The US should no longer play the role of "world cop". It should respect the rights of Hong Kong to handle issues through discussion with the central government, he said.

Liberal Party Chairman James Tien also called the report inappropriate because it used political reform as a pretext to encumber multiple and bilateral ties. "They think it is no good simply because it is not akin to their one-man-one-vote pattern."

(China Daily HK Edition June 17, 2004)