Abstract
This chapter compares the budget oversight institutions and practices of two Chinese territorial autonomies, Hong Kong and Macao, using the Open Budget Survey methodology. It will demonstrate that the varying practices of budget oversight of Hong Kong and Macao are the consequences of their different bases of opposition politics, including democratic opposition, the media, and the civil society.
Originally published in a slightly different form under the title of “Budget Oversight in Territorial Autonomies: A Comparative Analysis of Hong Kong and Macao,” reprinted from International Review of Administrative Sciences, Article first published online: 11 August 2021, https://doi.org/10.1177/00208523211033816, by permission of SAGE Publications.
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Notes
- 1.
For the full text of the HKSAR Basic Law, see: https://www.basiclaw.gov.hk; for the full text of the MSAR Basic Law, see: https://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/1999/leibasica (available in Chinese and Portuguese only).
- 2.
The partial-democratisation of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council began in 1991 when 18 directly-elected seats were added to the 60-member legislature. Direct election elements have been gradually increased to nearly 60% since 2012, including the five new quasi-directly elected, functional constituencies of “super district councillors.” For an account, see Ma (2012).
- 3.
The partial-democratization of Macao’s Legislative Council began in 1976, with about one-third of directly elected seats added to the 17-member legislature. Direct election elements have been gradually increased to more than 40% since 2013. For an account, see Yu (2011).
- 4.
- 5.
Hong Kong’s annual budget covers the period between 1 April to 31 March, while the annual budget of Macao covers the period from 1 January to 31 December.
- 6.
For an account of the corruption case of Ao Man-long, see Lo (2020: 70–75).
- 7.
For the official descriptions of the Follow-up Committee for Public Finance Affairs, see: https://www.al.gov.mo/zh/public-finances (Chinese only).
- 8.
The Framework Law of Budget provides more stringent regulations for the budgeting activities of the Macao government, such as imposing restrictions on virement of designated funds, strengthening the role of the Legislative Assembly over the monitoring of public works projects, and mandating the mid-term budget execution report submission to the Legislative Assembly. For the full text of the Framework Law of Budget, see: https://bo.io.gov.mo/bo/i/2017/35/lei15_cn.asp (Chinese and Portuguese only).
- 9.
It is worth noting that the strong democratic opposition in Hong Kong than Macao is in turn a result of the higher degree of democratization of Hong Kong Legislative Council than the Macao Legislative Assembly. According to the empirical analysis of Fong (2019), the percentage of seats chosen by popular elections in the Hong Kong Legislative Council was increased from 31% in 1991–1995 to the 57.14% since 2016; while that of the Macao Assembly largely remained at the level of 35% to 42.42% from 1975 to present. The higher level of democratization of Hong Kong’s legislature had certainly provided its democratic opposition a relatively greater room to thrive than their counterparts in Macao. For details, see Fong (2019).
- 10.
For the record of budget amendments proposed by Hong Kong’s democrats on 2019–2020 budget, see: https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr18-19/english/pre_rul/pre20190506-ref-e.pdf; for the record of written questions raised by them, see: https://www.legco.gov.hk/yr18-19/english/fc/fc/minutes/sfc_rpt.pdf.
- 11.
For the record of deliberation of Macao’s 2019 budget bill, see: https://www.al.gov.mo/zh/law/2018/358 (Chinese and Portuguese only).
- 12.
According to WiseNews Search Engine, there were a total of 71 Chinese news reports on 18 April 2019, the date following the release of the value-for-money reports by the Audit Commission. For full text of the audit reports, see: https://www.aud.gov.hk/eng/pubpr_arpt/rpt_72.htm.
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Fong, B.C.H. (2022). Budget Oversight. In: Hong Kong Public Budgeting. Hong Kong Studies Reader Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5363-6_5
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