Justice minister vows to defend Hong Kong’s legal system from any ‘escalated attacks’ by Western nations ahead of key national security court cases
- Western countries will continue to try and discredit Hong Kong’s legal and judiciary systems, as well as ‘maliciously attack’ court judgments, Paul Lam says
- Court set to hear national security case involving 47 opposition figures from end of January, while collusion trial of media mogul Jimmy Lai will start in September
Hong Kong’s justice minister has vowed to fend off any “escalated attacks” by the West against the city’s legal system as the courts hear a number of prominent national security cases this year.
In an opinion piece published in the pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao on Wednesday, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok also said he planned to visit Europe and Southeast Asia to bolster the global image of the city’s rule of law.
Cautioning that national security risks remained in the city even though the social environment had stabilised, Lam said some Western countries would continue to seize opportunities to try and discredit Hong Kong’s legal and judicial systems, and even “maliciously attack” court judgments.
“We must not naively think that these malicious acts will ease or stop,” Lam said. “On the contrary, we must get ready with bottom-line thinking to face attacks that could escalate, especially when there will be a number of key national security trials this year. We must strengthen our defence and fight back, both internally and externally.”
“Bottom-line thinking” is a concept President Xi Jinping has stressed in key speeches over the years and refers to a strategy of assessing various kinds of risk for better decision-making.