Editorial | US attack on judiciary is blatant interference

What sets it apart is that the prosecutors’ judicial and prosecutorial independence is guaranteed by the Basic Law. This is a constitutional safeguard against political interference in the performance of their duties and a pillar of confidence in the rule of law. It should be given due weight as a fundamental principle of justice. Ironically, the US agency shows contempt for it. A Hong Kong government spokesman characterises the attack as “cheap and bullying”. He might have added the word “ignorant”.

A report by the commission says “the growing number of political prisoners in Hong Kong and the role of the Justice Department and prosecutors in expanding arbitrary detention, may require action from the US and the international community to address the erosion of the rule of law and human rights, including additional sanctions”.

A government spokesman said the report was a slander aimed at intimidating prosecutors with the threat of sanctions. Bar Association chairman Victor Dawes said any attempt to interfere with prosecutorial independence guaranteed by the Basic Law was to be deplored. Law Society president Chan Chak-ming said Hong Kong had a robust criminal justice system that guaranteed independence. These statements may be givens and even taken for granted by Hongkongers, but there are times, like this, when they bear repeating emphatically.

Far from being constructive criticism, the attack blatantly undermines a system based on the common law that has endured since the resumption of Chinese rule in 1997. It is, essentially, interference in the affairs of another country. American critics cannot gainsay the principle of judicial and prosecutorial independence or its enshrinement in Hong Kong. Sanctioning prosecutors confounds the principle.