Is Hong Kong’s judicial independence hanging in the balance? British foreign minister suggests it is, drawing swift rebuke from Beijing
- Document by Liz Truss states ‘confidence in the rule of law will be undermined if there are further politicised prosecution decisions’
- But Beijing accuses Britain of seeking to disrupt the city’s internal politics by releasing the report so close to the coming Legislative Council election
Hong Kong’s judicial independence is teetering on a knife’s edge, Britain’s foreign minister has suggested in her latest report on the city, drawing swift rebukes from Beijing and the local government.
In her report covering the first six months of the year, released on Tuesday, Liz Truss expressed reservations for the first time over a legal system that London had previously called reputable, but said she believed British judges continued to have a constructive role to play by sitting in Hong Kong’s courts through a long-established tradition aimed at boosting international confidence.
“Our assessment of Hong Kong’s judicial independence is increasingly finely balanced, but for now I believe that British judges can continue to play a positive role in supporting this judicial independence,” Truss wrote.
“The intention of the British side putting together the so-called report before the Hong Kong Legco election is to interfere in Hong Kong affairs and disrupt the election order of [Hong Kong],” the office said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Hong Kong government, meanwhile, said it “strongly opposed the unfounded allegations” in the report, and also called on the UK to “stop interfering in the internal affairs of China through Hong Kong affairs”.