As Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab damned China’s “chilling” national security law for repressing legal freedoms in the former British colony, he is asking with the U.K.’s most senior legal officer on the position of British judges in Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal.
The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is the piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong. Such a law is required under Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, which came into force in 1997 and stipulates that the law should be enacted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In June 2020, a partially equivalent law was enacted by the Chinese Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, rather than by the Hong Kong Legislative Council.
On November 18, Raab said in a written report, “The U.K. will “monitor” the use of the National Security Law that allows the mainland authorities to take jurisdiction over certain cases without any independent oversight and its implications for the role of U.K. judges in the Hong Kong justice system.” Based on the status of Britain’s judges, Raab is looking upon another tool to act against the execution by China of national security laws that prohibit a broad range of acts, such as sedition, secession, foreign collusion and terrorism. He has already given U.K. visas to Hong Kong citizens and banned the export of weapons to the region.
Post Your Comments