Elsie Leung Praises Common Law Principles In Bill

A former deputy director of the Basic Law Committee, Elsie Leung, has praised the Common Law principles of Beijing's national security law for Hong Kong, though she admitted to being disappointed that she still hadn't been able to see the bill's full details. The contents of the bill were only outlined in a report by the official news agency Xinhua on Saturday, following a meeting by the National People's Congress Standing Committee in Beijing.

Nevertheless Leung made a strong defence of the legislation during a radio show on Sunday morning. And she brushed off concerns over some of the details that had been announced, such as Beijing retaining jurisdiction on some cases under the new legislation.

Speaking afterwards, the former justice minister said there was nothing to be worried about.

"I am also disappointed that we can't see the bill but in this explanatory memorandum it already clearly spells out what the bill is going to be - and the important principles are all there including the Common Law principles of presumption of innocence - otherwise acquit and so on," she said.

Leung said there were very few cases for which the central people's government would wish to assume jurisdiction and that these would only be in particular circumstances and spelt out in the bill.

Xinhua released the report following a three-day meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which ended on Saturday. There had been expectations in some quarters that the full bill would be published following the meeting.

The standing committee has since announced that it will hold a second three-day meeting beginning on June 28.