§ Mr. Alex CarlileTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he has taken in the light of the recent all-party parliamentary report on ill-treatment of prisoners in Chinese prisons, a copy of which has been sent to him; whether he has made special representations on behalf of prisoners to be transferred to China in 1997 from Hong Kong; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. ChalkerWe have not received a copy of the document described. But as for Hong Kong, the Sino-British joint declaration and the draft Basic Law both make clear that the legal and judicial systems in the future Hong Kong special administrative region will be separate from those of the People's Republic of China; and that the laws currently in force in Hong Kong will remain basically unchanged, save for any that contravene the Basic Law.
Any prisoners held in Hong Kong gaols in 1997 will become the responsibility of the Hong Kong special administrative region, not of China.