The Through Train Agreement

From 1985 to 1989, the Basic Law Drafting Committee began drafting the Hong Kong Basic Law to set out in detail the provisions for the idea of “one country, two systems”. The Basic Law established an executive-led political system for the government of the Hong Kong after 1997. After the Tiananmen incident, the Hong Kong government planned to accelerate the pace of democratic reform in Hong Kong. In January and February 1990, the Chinese and the British Foreign Ministers exchanged seven letters which marked the “through train” agreement between the Chinese and the British. The letters set out the conditions for the Hong Kong Legislative Council elected in 1995 to continue in office after 1997, meaning that political reforms in Hong Kong should converge with the Basic Law and that elected legislators should meet the conditions set out in the Basic Law.