My Take | Beijing moves towards ‘comprehensive jurisdiction’ over Hong Kong
- The city’s entire legal system is in the cross hairs of the central government
Beijing and its allies in Hong Kong have been advocating “judicial reform” for a while now. To that, they may add “legal reform”.
The common law tradition is being slowly rolled back as the legal system will be converging with that of the mainland in the coming years. Foreign governments and legal specialists, as well as local opposition, may huff and puff, but the reforms are inevitable and irresistible.
What’s the difference between judicial and legal reforms? Judicial reform targets local courts and their judges. Quite simply, local judges’ rulings on politically sensitive cases have been too erratic and unpredictable to Beijing’s liking.
It’s unclear how Beijing plans on reforming the local judiciary, but what Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, called standards of “patriotism” at a legal forum last week would presumably be applied to judges in future.