Barristers too sensitive on white paper, says Beijing official

The Hong Kong Bar Association was "over sensitive" and had "read too much into" Beijing's white paper on the role of the judiciary in the city, a mainland official said yesterday.

Xu Ze, deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, was quoted as making the comments about the association's reaction to the paper, which was released on Tuesday and categorised judges as administrators.

Barrister Lawrence Ma Yan-kwok, a member of the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, quoted Xu as making the comments in a meeting with Hong Kong lawyers in the capital yesterday.

But legal sector lawmaker Dennis Kwok, of the Civic Party, said it was impossible to be "too sensitive" on such an issue. Kwok, a barrister, called on Xu to explain if he believed that the Bar Association had misunderstood anything.

The paper said judges were administrators, like the chief executive and top officials, who had a "basic political requirement" to love the country. The Bar Association said this was "erroneous" and sent the wrong message to Hongkongers and the international community.

Ma said Xu told the lawyers: "The 'love the country, love Hong Kong' concept isn't really a passionate one. To put it simply, when government officials, lawmakers and judges assume office, they have to take an oath to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR government."