Chinese Judiciary Better Than HK's: Ex-legal Chief

A former director of public prosecutions, Grenville Cross, on Tuesday defended the mainland's judicial system, rejecting criticism that it is flawed and saying that in some ways, it is even better than Hong Kong's.

During a discussion on RTHK's Backchat programme about Hong Kong's plans to make it easier to extradite crime suspects to the mainland and other jurisdictions, Cross said people shouldn't pretend that China's judicial system doesn't have some good elements.

"The mainland also has additional protections that we don't have here. For example, in Hong Kong someone can be convicted on the basis of a confessional statement alone. But of course, many people can claim that they have been coerced into making statements. In the mainland, however, someone can only be convicted on the basis of confessional material if it is corroborated," Cross said.

He was responding to an assertion by barrister and Civic Party chairman Alan Leong that the mainland's legal system is "pathetically bad".

Leong, who accused Cross of "applauding" the mainland's judicial system, also warned that the planned legal changes to allow the surrender of fugitives on a case-by-case basis would put Hong Kong residents sent across the border at risk of unfair treatment and even torture.

But Cross, who served as the director of public prosecutions from 1997 to 2009, pointed out that many countries are happy to surrender wanted people to the mainland.

"China, of course, now has surrender of fugitives offender agreements, or extradition agreements, in place with some 40 countries. Many of these are democracies, including places like Spain, France, Portugal... in this part of the world, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea."

"So it's absolutely illogical, in my view, that there shouldn't be a similar arrangement within the same country," he said.

Leong replied that the countries Cross mentioned are sovereign states that do not have the history with the mainland that Hong Kong has, regarding the reversion of sovereignty. He also pointed out that they don't have such high numbers of residents travelling to the mainland as the SAR does.