Alice Wu

Opinion | In Hong Kong, separation of powers has been a non-issue since 1987

Beijing’s position has been consistent since Deng Xiaoping made it clear that Hong Kong would not follow the Western model: political power is granted by the central government and the political system is executive-led, as laid out in the Basic Law

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The Chinese and Hong Kong flags are flown outside Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal. Judicial independence is stipulated in the Basic Law; and whichever way we interpret “separation of powers” does not detract from that constitutional fact. Photo: AFP

Alice Wu

Published: 6:15am, 7 Sep 2020Updated: 6:17am, 7 Sep 2020

Since the drafting of the Basic Law in the 1980s, the separation of powers has been a sensitive political point. The power structure of Hong Kong, with the inherent and different roles the executive, legislature and judiciary branches play, seemed to be modelled on the Western notion of separation of powers among the three branches. But Deng Xiaoping himself had made it clear in 1987 that Hong Kong’s political system would not follow the Western model.

Yet, on the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the Basic Law, in 2007, Wu Bangguo, then head of the National People’s Congress, caused quite a stir just by pretty much echoing Deng’s opinion, and saying it would not be appropriate for Hong Kong to simply copy the Western political construct of separation of powers.

That was 13 years ago, and this issue has re-emerged, oh, every few years. Notably, Zhang Xiaoming, then head of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, spoke on the subject in 2015. Then it was the turn of Wu’s successor, Zhang Dejiang, in 2017.

The point of contention hasn’t changed much over the years. Beijing’s position on the separation of powers has always been absolute: all powers are granted by the central government and Hong Kong’s political system is executive-led, as clearly laid out in the Basic Law. There is no room for ifs and buts here. The granting of powers is a sovereign issue.

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Hongkongers see it more as a separation of duties and roles among different branches of government. And over the years, “separation of powers” has been equated with judicial independence, and therefore, whenever the topic is broached, threats to judicial independence are brought up.

Judicial independence is stipulated in the Basic Law; and whichever way we interpret “separation of powers” does not detract from that constitutional fact. What we perhaps dislike is having to accept that even our judiciary free from influence is granted by the central government.