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Ng Kang-chung

Beijing has reassured Hong Kong judges that they will receive unwavering support from the central government in executing their duties and that their legitimate rights will be protected amid threats of US sanctions.
China’s foreign ministry on Monday condemned a United States congressional report last week that called for sanctions against 29 judicial officers handling national security cases.
The report also claimed the judges’ role had weakened Hong Kong’s rule of law and independent judiciary.
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin criticised the document prepared by the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, calling it a fact-distorting move to smear the country and accusing the institution of having “little, if any, political credibility”.
Hong Kong’s judiciary condemns call by US panel for sanctions on 29 judges
Wang reiterated that Hong Kong affairs were China’s domestic affairs and that Beijing would not allow any interference from external forces.
“Hong Kong is a society with rule of law. Judges of [Hong Kong] exercise their judicial power on crimes suspected to endanger national security in accordance with laws including the Basic Law and the national security law, which brooks no interference,” he said, referring to the city’s mini-constitution.
“The Chinese central government firmly supports judicial authorities and personnel of Hong Kong to perform their duty in accordance with the law and makes utmost efforts to safeguard lawful rights and interests of judicial staff of [Hong Kong].”

The remarks came a day after two high-level state agencies – the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) and the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong – issued statements condemning the US report.
Both agencies expressed support for the city’s judges and vowed to safeguard their rights.
A spokesman for HKMAO condemned the report’s call for US sanctions against the city’s judges as “shameless and despicable”, saying the move was further proof that America was the “biggest saboteur” of Hong Kong’s rule of law and independent judiciary.
“It further exposed the arrogant, barefaced, ugly true face of US hegemony,” he said.
A spokesman for the liaison office called the document “another attempt to meddle with China’s domestic affairs and Hong Kong affairs”.


Earlier last week, the local office of China’s foreign ministry commissioner said it “strongly rejected and deplored” the report, while the city government claimed it made “slandering remarks and despicable threats” against judges.
The judiciary labelled the report a “flagrant and direct affront” to the rule of law and the independence of the courts.
The Law Society and Bar Association also condemned it.
Veteran political observer James Sung Lap-kung, director of the Hong Kong Progress and Perfection Research Institute, said he believed the US’ threat of sanctions might have touched the central government’s red line.
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“Hong Kong’s independent judiciary is a core value of the ‘one country, two systems’ governing principle. Beijing will not allow foreign forces to make use of any excuse to attack it,” he said, adding he did not think US President Joe Biden’s administration would impose sanctions against the city’s judges.
Last year, a group of Republican congressmen wrote to Biden urging his administration to impose sanctions against judges and prosecutors handling national security cases to stop what they called Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in the city.
No action has been taken so far.
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Professor Lau Siu-kai, a consultant at Beijing’s semi-official think tank, the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, shared Sung’s views.
“China hopes Hong Kong will develop into a legal hub to serve national development. The main aim of the US is to shake overseas countries’ confidence in Hong Kong’s rule of law as part of a campaign to contain China’s development,” Lau said.
Beijing’s national security law, which bans acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, was imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020 after months of often violent anti-government protests in 2019.
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Hong Kong and Beijing authorities have credited the law with restoring social order, but critics claim it has been used to stifle dissidents, saying many opposition activists had either been jailed or fled the city.
More than 20 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials have subsequently been sanctioned by the US in relation to the enactment of the law, including former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and current city leader John Lee Ka-chiu.
In 2017, the US sanctioned eight judges in Venezuela as Washington was unhappy with their rulings in cases involving opposition lawmakers, which it said were against the rule of law.
In 2020, the US also sanctioned two senior prosecution officials of the International Criminal Court for their investigations into alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.


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Hong Kong courts

Beijing vows support for Hong Kong judges after US congressional advisers call for sanctions

Beijing has vowed to stand behind Hong Kong’s judges in the face of possible US sanctions. Photo: Sam Tsang

Commuters walk past a large banner promoting the national security law in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Sam Tsang

Hong Kong’s judiciary condemns call by US panel for sanctions on 29 judges who hear national security cases

The judiciary says attempts to exert pressure on judges are unacceptable. Photo: Sun Yeung

Chief Justice Andrew Cheung is among the 29 judges who have been tasked with hearing national security cases. Photo: Sam Tsang

Mr Justice Joseph Fok was also on the list of judges to be targeted with sanctions. Photo: Edward Wong

Hong Kong national security law: legislature passes bill allowing government to ban overseas lawyers from cases

Some lawmakers expressed worries during debate in the legislature, with discussions lasting about one and a half hours before the bill was passed by a show-of-hands vote. Photo: Sun Yeung

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai in 2020 ahead of his trial. Photo: Winson Wong

British barrister Timothy Owen has been at the centre of the debate over the involvement of overseas lawyers in the city’s national security cases. Photo: Edmond So

News

Hong Kong

Politics

China’s foreign ministry condemns US report urging sanctions against 29 judicial officers handling national security cases
Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin describes document as fact-distorting move to smear country


China’s foreign ministry condemns US report calling for sanctions against 29 judicial officers handling national security cases.


Hong Kong national security law (NSL)

Hong Kong politics

US-China relations

US sanctions on China