Special Administrative Region

A Special Administrative Region (SAR) is a category of first-level administrative division established under Article 31 of the 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China, which authorises the National People's Congress (NPC) to create regions whose systems may differ from those of the mainland. Two SARs currently exist: Hong Kong, established on 1 July 1997 after the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom, and Macau, established on 20 December 1999 after the transfer from Portugal.

Each SAR operates under a constitutional document known as a Basic Law, drafted by the NPC. The Hong Kong Basic Law and the Macau Basic Law guarantee a "high degree of autonomy" in most domains, with Beijing retaining responsibility for foreign affairs and defence. Under the framework popularly known as "one country, two systems" — a concept advanced by Deng Xiaoping in the early 1980s and codified in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and the 1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration — SARs preserve:

• their own common law (Hong Kong) or civil law (Macau) legal systems
• separate currencies (the Hong Kong dollar and the Macanese pataca)
• independent customs territories and separate WTO membership
• their own immigration controls and passports
• distinct judiciaries, including courts of final appeal

SARs are governed by a Chief Executive selected through a local electoral process and formally appointed by the State Council. Legislatures (the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, the Legislative Assembly in Macau) handle most domestic lawmaking.

The autonomy framework has been contested. Beijing's imposition of the National Security Law on Hong Kong on 30 June 2020, bypassing the local legislature, and the 2021 electoral overhaul reducing directly elected seats prompted international debate over whether the original SAR model remains intact. The Hong Kong Basic Law's autonomy provisions are scheduled to remain in effect for 50 years from 1997, and Macau's for 50 years from 1999.