Set up a special court to try national security cases, ExCo member says
Any legal cases relating to national security should be handled by a special court where all judges are vetted by the Chinese authorities, a pro-Beijing cabinet member said on Monday.
Ip Kwok-him, a member of Hong Kong’s Executive Council, the city’s top advisory council to city leader Carrie Lam, said on a radio program Beijing’s involvement in national security cases is needed to strike a “balance”.
But his remarks drew outrage from local pro-democracy lawmakers. Jeremy Tam, of Civic Party, said damaging the independent judiciary system would fundamentally ruin the “One Country, Two Systems,” an arrangement struck by China and the United Kingdom that guaranteed civil liberties in the city after the 1997 handover. “Why don’t they just start ‘One Country, One System’ right away,” Tam mocked.
Dennis Kwok, another lawmaker of Tam’s party, described Ip’s suggestions as “nonsense”. “The so-called special court will by no means be accepted,” he said.
There have been fears that freedoms are slowly eroding in Hong Kong as Beijing is tightening its grip on many fronts. On Sunday, Secretary for Civil Service Patrick Nip said Hong Kong’s 180,000 civil servants, famed for their professionalism and political neutrality, should formulate policies to serve both Hong Kong and the Chinese authorities. A day later, he reiterated civil servants should have “dual identities” and refrain from governing from the local Hong Kong perspective.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting questioned whether Hong Kong civil servants should also abide by mainland laws in Hong Kong and pledge allegiance to the Community Party in future. He said the “One Country, Two Systems” would be invalidated if civil servants lose their political neutrality and asked to act in accordance with the socialist system.
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