On July 1, 2022, President Xi Jinping, on the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, put people’s minds to rest over 2047 (when the Basic Law’s “50 years unchanged” promise is due to expire). Having highlighted how the “judiciary exercises judicial power independently” and emphasised Beijing’s support for the city “retaining its common law system”, he said the “one country, two systems” principle “must be adhered to over the long run”.
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This was hugely reassuring, given that the city’s legal system is, as generally acknowledged, fundamental to its success. In the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index 2022, Hong Kong was ranked 22nd out of the 140 places surveyed, ahead of the US at 26th, Italy at 32nd and Greece at 44th. This was no mean feat, and its judiciary deserves great credit.
It is, therefore, outrageous that the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), which was created in 2000 and monitors China on behalf of the US Congress, has threatened the judiciary, one of the most professional in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Court of Final Appeal, which oversees the legal system, comprises distinguished local judges and eminent global jurists. They include two former chief justices of Australia (Robert French and Anthony Gleeson), the former chief justice of Canada (Beverley McLachlin), and two former presidents of the UK Supreme Court (Nicholas Phillips and David Neuberger). Their judgments are impeccable, and often cited with approval elsewhere in the common-law world.
It is, however, the very strength of the judiciary that makes it a target. It is clearly difficult for antagonists to claim the rule of law is on its last legs in Hong Kong when it is operated by professional judges who are fiercely independent. The CECC, therefore, is seeking to undermine it, and deter its judges from hearing particular cases.
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On May 12, it called for 29 of Hong Kong’s judges to be sanctioned, because they have handled national security cases. They include the chief justice, Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, and five other Court of Final Appeal judges (some, British). These, paradoxically, are the very people who have ensured Hong Kong’s national security law is properly applied.
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung (left), with Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok at the ceremonial opening of the 2023 legal year, is among the 29 judges being targeted. Photo: Sam Tsang
