The Preliminary Working Committee (PWC) was a body set up by the

Government of the People's Republic of China The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...

government for the preparation of the

transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong Sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China (PRC) at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony. Hong Kong was established as a special admini ...

. The first meeting of the PWC was held in July 1995 and ended its work in December 1995. It consisted of 57 members, of which 30 were from Hong Kong. The chairman was

Qian Qichen Qian Qichen (; 5 January 1928 – 9 May 2017) was a Chinese diplomat and politician. He served as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member from 1992 to 2002, China's Foreign Minister from April 1988 to March 1998, and as Vice Premier f ...

and the six vice-chairmen consisted of four mainland officials (

Lu Ping Lu Ping (; 27 September 1927 – 3 May 2015) was a Chinese politician and diplomat. He served as Head of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China. He is best known as China's delegation head ...

Zhou Nan Zhou Nan () was a prominent Chinese politician and diplomat, and served as Director of the Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong, Vice Minister of the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ambassador to the United Nations. He wa ...

Jiang Enzhu Jiang Enzhu (; born 14 December 1938) is a Chinese retired diplomat and politician. Jiang was a member of the 15th CPC Central Committee, he served as Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, as president of the Xinhua News Agency, as director o ...

, and Zheng Yi), two Hong Kong vice-chairmen were

Henry Fok Henry Fok Ying Tung (10 May 1923 – 28 October 2006) was a Hong Kong businessman. He has ancestral roots in Lianxi Village, Panyu, now part of Guangzhou, Guangdong. Fok was the vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's ...

and T. K. Ann, two tycoons among the most trusted by Beijing. The mainland members included those with vice-ministerial rank form the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council is an administrative agency of the State Council of the People's Republic of China responsible for promoting cooperation and coordination of political, economic and cultural ties betwe ...

, Ministry of Public Security,

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation The Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (MOFCOM) is a cabinet-level executive agency of the State Council of China. It is responsible for formulating policy on foreign trade, export and import regulations, foreign direct ...

People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC or informally PBOC; ) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China, responsible for carrying out monetary policy and regulation of financial institutions in mainland China, as determined by ...

, and the CCP's

United Front Work Department The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (UFWD; ) is a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which is officially tasked with "united front work". For this endeavo ...

. Other Hong Kong members included those were the targets of the

united front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political a ...

, such as

David Li Sir David Li Kwok-po (; born 13 March 1939, London, England) is a Hong Kong banker and politician. He is the Executive Chairman of the Bank of East Asia and Pro-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. He was a member of the Legislative ...

Li Ka-shing Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...

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, and

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. The legality of the body was questioned as the forming of such a body was not envisaged by either the

Sino-British Joint Declaration The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance of the territory after ...

or the

Basic Law of Hong Kong The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 ar ...

. Beijing argued it was the decision made by the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

on 4 April 1990 when the Basic Law was passed, it provided the NPC to establish a

Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was a body established by the People's Republic of China government on 26 January 1996 for the transition of the Hong Kong sovereignty in 1997. The Preparatory Committee was ...

and the Preliminary Working Committee was just preparation for the Preparatory Committee to be set up in 1996.

References

{{reflist Politics of Hong Kong History of Hong Kong 1995 in Hong Kong 1995 in politics

See also

References