Hong Kong courts’ jurisdiction is subject to limitations and Beijing has the final say, said Zhang Yong, vice chairperson of the Basic Law Committee under the National People’s Congress Standing Committee.

“While judicial independence means judges can rule on cases without interference and with autonomy, it does not refer to courts’ jurisdiction,” Zhang told pro-Beijing politicians during Tuesday’s national security law seminar hosted by the Liaison Office. His full speech was published in Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao on Wednesday.

Zhang said Hong Kong had “limited ability and power to safeguard national security, especially when it involves complicated factors such as foreign interference and military defense.” He also said that Hong Kong had “no authority and cannot rule” on certain cases related to national security, adding that only the central government had such authority.

In response to criticisms against the decision to grant Hong Kong’s chief executive power to designate judges for national security cases, Zhang said the decision takes into account Hong Kong’s actual situation and therefore would not expressly rule out foreign judges.

“Allowing the chief executive to designate judges to preside over national security cases can prevent judges from being caught between divided loyalties,” he said.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday said currently only the chief justice and the chief judge of the High Court have to be Chinese nationals. She said it was unrealistic to only allow Chinese judges to hear national security cases because she was uncertain how many judges held foreign passports.

Civic Party lawmaker and legal-sector representative Dennis Kwok said Zhang should not conflate judicial independence and jurisdiction. He said to maintain judicial independence, judges should be able to determine which cases to hear, when to hear them and how to rule on them.

“You cannot take away some parts of judicial independence and expect it would not be affected,” Kwok said.

Kwok said under the Basic Law, the chief executive appoints judges based on recommendations from the the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission as well as the judges’ knowledge and expertise. He added that appointments should not be a political process.

Kwok also said that the foreign citizenship that some judges hold would not prevent them from performing their duties loyally since they have all taken an oath of office. He pointed out that some pro-Beijing lawmakers are foreign nationals as well. “Do they have loyalty issues too?” he questioned.

Kwok slammed Zhang’s seminar for lacking transparency and for being carried out without consulting Hongkongers.

Democratic Party lawmaker James To, a solicitor, pointed out that the text of the national security law had still not been made public and that Hongkongers had no idea when the law would be enacted. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for people to express their concerns to Beijing.

The Hong Kong Bar Association on Tuesday released its fourth statement on the controversial legislation, warning that the latest proposals from Beijing would sabotage the city’s constitution.

“What is proposed is distinct from the [chief executive’s] general power to appoint judges under Article 88 of the Basic Law, but confers a power upon the [chief executive] to designate a judge or group of judges to try a particular type of criminal offence,” the association wrote in a statement.

The statement added: “This is contrary to the intent and spirit of the Basic Law, and poses a threat to judicial independence.”

Former chief justice Andrew Li on Tuesday raised alarms over Hong Kong’s judicial independence being undermined by the draft national security law. He highlighted the selection of judges by the chief executive and transfer of some trials to China as key areas for concern.

In response, Lam said that the chief executive always had authority to appoint certain judges, including those for the Lands Tribunal and Labour Tribunal, and such appointments were not in contradiction with judicial independence.

“If someone said it was unheard of for the chief executive to appoint judges for certain cases, it would be a bit ignorant,” she said.

Lawmaker To said Lam’s remarks were “blatant lies” because the chief executive does not appoint judges for criminal cases.

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