Local people must respect the authority of the central government under the "one country, two systems" principle, legal experts and Basic Law Committee members said yesterday.

Alan Hoo, chairman of Basic Law Institute said that Hong Kong people should enhance their understanding of the role of the central government.

He said this after hearing the speech of National People's Congress Standing Committee chairman Wu Bangguo at a seminar to commemorate the 10th anniversary of implementing the Basic Law of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Beijing yesterday.

"It seems that some Hong Kong people have no clear understanding of sovereignty. For example, some people think that the central government must act like a rubber stamp to accept the appointment of officials recommended by the special administrative region (SAR)," Hoo said.

"Hong Kong has no autonomous power except that given by our sovereign state. How much autonomous power we enjoy depends on how much our sovereign state gives us," he said.

Commenting on the "residual power", Basic Law Committee member Maria Tam said the issue of residual power had been explained clearly when the Basic Law was promulgated in 1990.

"There is no 'residual power' for Hong Kong," Tam said.

"It will be strange (if chairman Wu does not mention the issue) as he is describing the implementation of 'one country, two systems' in Hong Kong and the relationship with the authorization of the central government," she said.

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong legislator Jasper Tsang said those who are familiar with the Basic Law should understand that there had been no intention to include the concept of "the separation of the three powers" in the mini-constitution during the drafting process.

Tsang said even some Western democratic countries also did not implement "separation of powers", but that did not mean their judicial systems were not independent.

City University of Hong Kong political scientist James Sung said Wu's speech indicated that the central government had the highest authority, and the executive-led governance structure in Hong Kong should not be challenged.

(China Daily June 7, 2007)