...Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ruled on the basis of a mini-constitution, the Basic Law. This guarantees the SAR its own legislature, legal and judicial system, and full economic autonomy, but gives the central government in Beijing responsibility for defence and foreign affairs. The SAR government is headed by the chief executive, Donald Tsang, who was sworn in in June 2005 and re-elected in March 2007; he will hold the post until 2012. A Legislative Council (Legco) election was held on September 7th 2008. The Hong Kong population at large currently plays no part in selecting the chief executive and elects only half of the Legco seats. The political system is strongly executive-led, but it lacks full legitimacy, a circumstance that becomes more important during periods of political or economic turmoil, when controversial decisions might need to be taken. Despite Hong Kong's "autonomy" from China, China's government is an important...
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