Editorial | Hong Kong Bar Association’s first visit to Beijing since 2018 can mend ties
- The central government wants Hong Kong to be an international legal hub but that can only be achieved through cordial but honest and open relations with the city’s barristers
Hong Kong’s common-law legal system has long been trusted by investors, businesspeople and professionals from overseas. It has played an integral part in the city’s development as an international centre for finance and trade. Beijing has recently reaffirmed support for the system.
This is important as the city seeks to strengthen its global connections in the wake of the pandemic.
The central government’s backing extends to the legal professionals who make the system work. That relationship will soon be boosted by two key trips to Beijing. The Law Society, representing solicitors, will visit later this month.
But it is the trip by the Bar Association in April which signals a breakthrough. Relations between the Bar and Beijing broke down amid the city’s political changes and the association’s vocal stance on sensitive issues. The Bar’s annual visit to Beijing was suspended for five years from 2018.
Tensions eased with the appointment of Victor Dawes, a commercial lawyer, as chairman of the Bar in January last year. He revealed last week that a 20-strong delegation will be visiting Beijing next month.
The Bar will meet with the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) as well as the Basic Law Committee under the National People’s Congress, which advises the country’s top legislature on monitoring the accurate implementation of the city’s de facto constitution. Meetings with courts, universities and other legal bodies are also planned.