“五十年不變”的三種面孔並論香港基本法的時間觀

《香港基本法》第5條規定：“香港特別行政區不實行社會主義制度和政策，保持原有的資本主義制度和生活方式，五十年不變。”“五十年不變”可以從三個層面加以探討，分別是作為憲法規範的“五十年不變”，作為政治承諾的“五十年不變”，以及作為國家戰略的“五十年不變”。通過這種三位一體的闡釋，可以深刻理解一國兩制的憲制意義。從“五十年不變”看香港政治，《基本法》設定的不是一種五十年後重新出發的斷裂時態，而是包容著一種在連續性軌道上追求與時俱進的民主政治。不理解這一點，從字面意義上無限拔高“港人治港”或“高度自治”，無意識甚或有意地忘記《基本法》對高度自治的限定，這種脫離《基本法》空談自治的做派實乃香港政治亂象的社會心理根源。

According to Article 5 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, “the Socialist system and policies shall not be practiced in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years.”The clause of “remain unchanged for 50 years”, after being comprehended respectively as constitutional norm, political commitment, as well as state development strategy, can be constructed as the constitutive part of the doctrine of one country, two systems. The Hong Kong democracy, in its essence, is a reform-oriented progressive polity constituted by the pre- commitments laid down in the Basic Law. High degree of autonomy, which has been authorized by the National People's Congress in Article 2 of the Basic Law, has its limits from its inception, and the politics of “remain unchanged” has been a crucial way to set the boundary for high degree of autonomy. In this sense, empty and cheap democratic talk, without respect to the text, structure and history of the Basic Law, is responsible for the outbreak of the extremist movements in the second decade after the recovery of Hong Kong.