GOVERNOR Chris Patten presided over his last "cabinet" meeting yesterday before Hong Kong reverts to China on July 1st. At the same time, the partly-elected legislative council Mr Patten created - and which is doomed to extinction when he leaves - passed laws in a last-ditch effort to minimise punishment for political dissent under Chinese rule.
In the council the Democratic Party succeeded, by 23 votes to 20, in amending legislation so that only violence and not vocal dissent will amount to a punishable offence in future. The new laws stipulate also that seditious statements in speeches or publications will not be against the law.
The 60-member legislative council will be replaced by a provisional legislature of 60 appointed members when China resumes sovereignty next Tuesday. The new body has the power to amend legislation not considered compatible with the Basic Law (China's constitution for Hong Kong), guaranteeing that it will keep a high degree of autonomy.
Mr Patten's cabinet or executive council, consisting of the three most senior civil servants and eight appointed members, met for the last time in Government Buildings. Posing with the group for photographers, the governor repeated his departure theme of recent days, that Britain is leaving behind "one of the greatest cities in the world".
Two of the cabinet team, Ms Anson Chan, Chief Secretary and head of the civil service, and Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, will transfer to the cabinet of Hong Kong's post-handover Chief Executive, Mr Tung Chee-hwa, on July 1st.
The commander of British forces in Hong Kong, Maj-Gen Bryan Dutton, said yesterday that Chinese troops scheduled to enter Hong Kong three hours before its handover posed no threat. On Monday, Britain gave in to China's demand that 509 of its 10,000-strong garrison be allowed to enter the territory before British sovereignty ended, so that they would be in a position to take up duty immediately after midnight on June 30th. "The Royal Hong Kong Police are in control both before midnight and after midnight," Gen Dutton told reporters. "The military presence here is purely as a manifestation of sovereignty, a largely ceremonial role."
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops will not be involved in policing demonstrations planned for the hand over period. Pro-democracy demonstrators said yesterday they would high-light the June 4th, 1989, Tiananmen Square crackdown by the PLA during protests against the dissolution of the legislative council next week.
The Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democracy Movements in China, Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy grouping, said that while the Prince of Wales was handing the territory to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, they would show a video at a site nearby of the bloody events in Beijing when the PLA crushed the pro-democracy movement eight years ago.
"We will demand the release of pro-democracy prisoners, the punishment of those responsible for June 4th events and the end of single-party rule," the Alliance leader, Mr Szeto Wah, said. However, demonstrators would not chant "Down with Li Peng" during their handover protests, he said, referring to China's Prime Minister, who is unpopular with democrats for declaring martial law in Beijing before the 1989 crackdown. Mr Li is attending the handover ceremony.
The Hong Kong Justice Minister-designate, Ms Elsie Leung, said this week that anyone chanting "Down with Li Peng" would be committing sedition.
Police Chief Dick Lee said yesterday no permit would be needed to demonstrate from June 30th to July 2nd. A law placing new restrictions on demonstrations will not in effect be applied for the first two days of Chinese sovereignty.