Bar Association urges top Beijing official to clarify views on Hong Kong chief executive’s ‘overriding’ status
Bar Association takes top Beijing official to task for saying chief executive has overriding control
The Bar Association attacked Beijing's top official in Hong Kong for saying separation of powers as prescribed under the Basic Law did not apply in the city.
It urged Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government's liaison office, to explain his remarks last week that the chief executive "possesses a special legal position that transcends the executive, the legislature and the judiciary", and that the separation of powers applied only to sovereign states.
The barristers' body said it also wanted Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung to respond and that it was "deeply concerned" the speech would be interpreted as a rejection of the principle in Hong Kong.
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"The [Bar Association] firmly believes that the common law principle of 'separation of powers' will continue to be implemented within the constitutional framework of the Basic Law," it said in a statement.
Zhang has been accused of provoking the public after a relatively calm period since the Occupy protests ended. He said that as the chief executive was not just the top official in Hong Kong but also answerable to Beijing, the city's leader had a status above the three branches.
The association said it would be "regrettable" should this view be taken as meaning that the chief executive was superior to the three institutions.
The chief executive, it argued, "cannot be said to be above the law … irrespective of the description of the political role".