Hong Kong must choose ‘lesser of two evils’ – US retaliation or foreign investment exodus due to unrest, former justice secretary says
- Elsie Leung also says barring of foreign judges from security cases would violate city’s Basic Law, though seeking Beijing’s interpretations is ‘normal’
- Another legal heavyweight questions if local courts will have authority to declare provisions of Beijing’s new national security law unconstitutional
Hong Kong must choose “the lesser of two evils”, American retaliation or a foreign investment exodus from an “unstable society” that lacks a security law, a former justice secretary has argued in the wake of the United States declaring the city is no longer autonomous.
Elsie Leung Oi-sie also said that while Hong Kong courts could seek interpretations from the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) before deciding relevant cases, a suggestion that Beijing would bar judges of foreign nationalities from those decisions would “not be in compliance with the Basic Law”.
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How China is drafting a new Hong Kong national security law at the National People’s Congress
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday told Congress the State Department no longer considered Hong Kong autonomous from mainland China, a day before the NPC was set to approve a resolution asking the Standing Committee to craft a law prohibiting acts and activities of secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in Hong Kong.
Critics of the legislation have said US sanctions would hammer the city’s economy, and questioned whether the law would curtail judicial independence and criminalise speech critical of the Communist Party and the Chinese state.
The move by the US, which threatens Hong Kong’s long-standing special trading status and preferential economic treatment, followed a mass protest across the city on Wednesday. More than 360 people were arrested while protesting against the security law and a contentious national anthem bill being debated by city lawmakers.
Speaking on a local radio programme, Leung, who is also a former vice-chairwoman of the Basic Law Committee, sought to play down the US remarks on Thursday, saying “these things will happen” and urging Pompeo to hold off on commenting until the fine print of the new law had emerged.
