[1] In 1986, a report to the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee from its political subgroup recommended a government model involving separation of powers.
[1] The proposal was rejected in 1987 by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping who said that "the Hong Kong system of government should not be completely Westernised" and that copying the "separation of three powers" would be inappropriate, after which the committee stopped using the term.
[7] The following day, the Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, publicly stated at a press conference that she fully supported Kevin Yeung's view that there was no separation of powers.
[8][9][10] The Hong Kong Bar Association criticised Lam's statements, saying that independent operations of the three branches of government would guard against abuse.
[11] In accordance with Article 26 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, permanent residents of Hong Kong are eligible to vote in direct elections for the 35 seats representing geographical constituencies and 35 seats from functional constituencies in the 70-seat, unicameral Legislative Council (LegCo).
[2][5] Since the 1997 handover, Hong Kong courts under the authorisation of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) of China have frequently conceptualised separation of powers as a feature of the law in Hong Kong, using it to guard against executive and legislative encroachment against judicial independence and to justify non-interference in matters pertaining to the executive and legislative branches.
[4] It also reported that Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal, Andrew Cheung, also explicitly recorded the separation of powers system in Hong Kong in a 2008 judgement.