The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed between the Chinese government and the British government on 19 December 1984 required the drafting of the Basic Law. The Basic Law, developed on the basis of the declaration, defines China`s basic policy towards Hong Kong, including the „one country, two systems“ principle, so that the governmental and economic system in mainland China is not extended to Hong Kong. Instead, Hong Kong would continue its capitalist system and way of life until 2047. [5] The Basic Law also defines legal sources, relations between Hong Kong and the central government (State Council), fundamental rights and obligations of Hong Kong residents, and local government branches. Second, the joint declaration itself affirms that the Chinese Constitution is the legal basis of Hong Kong`s Basic Law. As noted above, paragraph 3 of the Joint Statement is a unilateral statement by the Chinese government, which sets out China`s fundamental policy towards Hong Kong. The political atmosphere in Hong Kong has become more controversial since 2014. In late summer 2014, protesters occupied part of central Hong Kong for 79 days and called for more democracy through the NPC`s so-called „831“ decision on the election of Hong Kong`s head of government. The government`s crackdown on protesters has radicalized part of the movement. When the situation worsened in mid-2019 (due to the issue of an extradition agreement with mainland China), it was only a matter of time before Hong Kong`s room for manoeuvre was further reduced. For now, the security law has put a decisive end to the escalation.
Germany and Europe should first become aware of the problem posed by China`s strategy of exporting its legal approach. An important step in the right direction would be to take seriously the scale of China`s ambitions and strategic integration. Hong Kong is not an isolated case, but a test balloon. It is possible that in the future Beijing will over-interpret the extraterritorial component of China`s national security law or Chinese criminal law and receive support from a growing number of BIS states. Beijing already has an extensive network of ever-growing extradition agreements (including Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, Spain and France). „They would no longer be affected by Article 5 and the joint declaration,“ he said, referring to another agreement with Britain. First, the Sino-British joint declaration was made between China and the United Kingdom, both sovereign, and the very text of the instrument indicates that it is an agreement between China and the United Kingdom. The joint declaration consists of eight paragraphs and three annexes, each party having the same status.
