Hong Kong lawyers head urges Beijing to listen and not rush Basic Law interpretation
Group president appeals for advance notice in future amid fears of lost legal independence
The Law Society has urged Beijing to grant more channels for Hongkongers to convey their views on legal issues before making any interpretation of the city’s mini-constitution, describing previous instances as too “rushed”.
Society president Thomas So Shiu-tsung said he led a delegation to Beijing last week to meet the Ministry of Justice, the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, All China Lawyers’ Association, the Basic Law Committee and the Supreme People’s Court.
Article 158 of the Basic Law states the Hong Kong courts can seek an interpretation from the Standing Committee, the country’s top legislative body, over affairs that are the responsibility of the central government or concerning its relationship with Hong Kong.
The committee has interpreted different clauses in the Basic Law five times since the handover. Only one of them arose from a court request. The rest were either initiated by the Hong Kong government or Beijing.
So said the society did not make specific proposals, but asked the Standing Committee to make its deliberation process more transparent “so that stakeholders may have time to express their views and the committee will be able to capture a lot more information from the community”.
At present, the Standing Committee only consults the 12-member Basic Law Committee, comprising mostly pro-establishment scholars and lawyers from the mainland and Hong Kong, for interpretation matters.
Wong said no one “directly” approached him but there had been talks “through third parties”.