'No Reason Why New Law Should Stop UK Judges'

Executive Councillor Ronny Tong said on Sunday that he doesn't see any reason for the national security law to affect judicial independence in Hong Kong or why the UK judges would no longer be able to serve the city.

His comments come after the President of the Supreme Court of the UK, Robert Reed, said the national security law might make it impossible for UK judges to serve in the SAR.

Tong said it's rather unusual for a judge to make a political statement, but he's not worried.

"I'm not at all concerned by the suggestion that the independence of Hong Kong judiciary will be eroded, because I see no basis of that happening. There (is) no factual evidence to show that the independence of Hong Kong's judiciary is heading towards a low point."

"As far as the Hong Kong situation is concerned, there are at the moment 13 international judges sitting on our Court of Final Appeal – most of them come from the UK. Most of them are retired judges from the Supreme Court of the UK. I would say that that situation is extremely unlikely to change.”

“That being the case, I cannot see any suggestion why the independence of the judiciary would change as a result of the national security law, because there are no provisions in the national security law which affect the ability of international judges sitting on our Court of Final Appeal."

The executive councillor said he thinks it's only natural for some candidates to be banned from the September Legco elections when they keep trying to test what he called the "red line" of national integrity, but added the new security law won’t be used for disqualifications.

Tong said it's unlikely that the authorities will use the law that Beijing has imposed in the city to bar Legco candidates, as only those found guilty of breaking the security law will be barred from running.

But he said current election rules do require candidates to genuinely uphold the Basic Law and people who fail to do so are likely to be disqualified.

"Whether a person can be disqualified would depend upon to what extent his behaviour would show that he's genuinely in support of the Basic Law,” he said.

“Now if you intend to challenge the validity or the acceptance or otherwise of the Basic Law and One Country, Two Systems day in and day out, and you keep testing the red line of national security, then of course your chance of getting disqualified is equally higher. And that has nothing to do with the national security law."