Beijing and Hong Kong ‘must look at Basic Law from each other’s perspective’, justice minister says
Rimsky Yuen warns failure to do so could have 'negative effects' on cross-border cooperation
Beijing and Hong Kong must look at the Basic Law from each other’s perspective, or risk facing “negative effects” on cross-border cooperation, the justice minister has said.
Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung warned today that without such mutual understanding, the co-existence of “two systems”, under the “one country, two systems” principle, would be at risk.
The minister’s comments came a day after Beijing’s liaison office chief, Zhang Xiaoming, sparked a fresh political row by declaring Hong Kong’s top leader holds a position of authority above the executive, the judiciary and the legislature – effectively ending the notion of separation of powers in the city.
Read more: ‘Hong Kong leader is above the executive branch, legislature and courts’, says Beijing’s liaison chief
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Under the “one country, two systems” framework, Beijing promised that the mainland’s socialist system would not be practised in Hong Kong after the 1997 handover, and the city’s capitalist system would remain unchanged for 50 years.
Yuen told Xinhua news agency that because the Basic Law was created under such a framework, it is “of utmost importance not to understand it from a single perspective”.
“It has to be read both from Hong Kong’s angle, as well as that of the central government, otherwise it is impossible to safeguard the co-existence of the ‘two systems’ under the ‘one country’ framework,” Yuen said. Xinhua did not specify whether the interview was conducted before or after Zhang’s controversial remarks.
Talking about cross-border exchanges between lawyers from the two jurisdictions, Yuen added: “If Hong Kong and the mainland don’t understand each other’s laws, adverse effects will result in their cooperation.”
Zhang’s comments alarmed pan-democrats, who accused Beijing of redefining the scope and status of the city’s chief executive, but Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor dismissed such concerns, insisting Zhang was not suggesting Hong Kong’s leader was “above the law”.
