Chinese legislature deliberates draft interpretations on Macao Basic Law

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, began here Monday to deliberate draft interpretations on two annexes of the Basic Law of the Macao concerning election issues. Li Fei, deputy director of the Commission of Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, explained the draft interpretations to lawmakers. The Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR) was adopted in 1993 and went into effect on Dec. 20, 1999. Annex I to the Basic Law provides a method for selecting the SAR's chief executives while Annex II sets the method for the formation of its legislative assembly. Clause 7 of Annex I of the Basic Law says that if there is a need to amend the method for selecting the Chief Executives for 2009, and the terms subsequent to the year 2009, such amendments must be made with endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Legislative Council and the consent of the Chief Executive, and they shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for approval. Clause 3 of Annex II says that if there is a need to amend the method of forming the Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region in and after 2009, such amendments must be made with the endorsement of a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Assembly and the consent of the Chief Executive, and they shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record. Li said that the phase "if there is a need to amend ..." should mean that they may or may not be amended. The decision-making on whether such necessity exists is reserved to the central authorities, or the NPC standing committee, said Li, adding that the Macao SAR government, rather than members of the Legislative Assembly, individually or jointly, should be the proper entity to propose any such amendments. Li also explained that if no amendment to the methods is adopted, the two Annexes should still apply. The full text of draft has not been made public yet, but the points raised by Li are identical to those in the committee's prior interpretations on Hong Kong SAR's Basic Law in 2004. During the deliberation, members of the committee noted that draft would help to safeguard Macao's long-term prosperity and stability. They also believed that it was "proper and necessary" to adopt the draft during this week's session as Macao's chief executive Fernando Chui Sai On had made the issue of modifying the method a "major work" in his policy address for the fiscal year 2012. Chui's statement recognized that "there is agreement that it is appropriate to properly modify the two methods in order to adapt to society's development and progress" and promised to "submit a proposal on whether to modify and - if so - how to modify the methods." Macao expects the formation of its fifth Legislative Assembly in 2013, and the selection of its fourth Chief Executive in 2014.