The principles of leaving the Hong Kong system intact for 50 years and having locals administer the SAR were laid out prior to the handover. "Though Beijing was used to controlling everything itself, it was supposed sit on the sidelines and watch," says Ivan Choy, a senior lecturer in the Department of Government and Public Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong whose research focuses on the administration of the SAR.
回歸陣痛回歸前夕，「50 年不變」、「港人治港」原則確立後，「向來事事都管的北京當局學著站在一邊看，」長期研究特區政府運作的香港中文大學政治與行政學系高級講師蔡子強說。