https://www.scmp.com/rss/501027/feed Sir Malcolm Rifkind, KCMG QC, is a former UK foreign secretary. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com With the fireworks at Hong Kong Polytechnic University dominating international media attention, it is easy to miss a far bigger watershed. After Hong Kong’s High Court rightly pronounced Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s application of the Emergency Regulations Ordinance unconstitutional, China’s National People’s Congress made an announcement which could – if translated into policy – signal the end of Hong Kong’s rule of law as we know it. Noting that China’s “constitution and the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3038628/beijing-must-respect-high-court-mask-law-ruling-interests-both-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3038628/beijing-must-respect-high-court-mask-law-ruling-interests-both-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Nov 2019 09:00:13 +0000 As the former British foreign secretary responsible for the final stage of the handover negotiations with China, I have serious concerns that the proposal put forward by the government of Hong Kong to allow extradition to mainland China will undermine the city’s judiciary and be a breach of the handover settlement that we agreed. The handover agreement, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, states that the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong’s people should remain unchanged. The central problem with... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3012853/there-no-loophole-hong-kongs-current-extradition-law-rather-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3012853/there-no-loophole-hong-kongs-current-extradition-law-rather-it?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jun 2019 23:00:09 +0000