Hong Kong courts will make ‘red lines’ on national security clear through decisions on cases, outgoing Law Society president says
- Chan Chak-ming, to stand down after three terms as Law Society president, adds NGOs better placed to ease overseas fears about national security laws
- Chan says there is no ‘magic’ to change city’s image overnight, but government and society should work to achieve goal
It will take time for Hong Kong’s courts to draw clear red lines on “complicated” national security legislation through future decisions, the Law Society president has said as he prepares to step down from the prestigious post.
Chan Chak-ming, a three-term president of the city’s biggest lawyers’ group, added that he believed NGOs were more persuasive than government officials in telling the story of national security legislation to overseas audiences.
Chan said in an interview with the Post that he had noticed some residents had a perception that they “couldn’t say anything” under Hong Kong’s two national security laws despite freedom of speech being enshrined in the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
“They think that even if they criticise the government slightly, they’ll be arrested. And that is obviously not true.
“I keep reminding people that Hong Kong is still a very open and free city … it is part of normal life that we criticise the government, so long as we don’t have the ulterior motive of toppling the government.”
Chan added the Beijing-imposed legislation was “quite complicated … especially for the general public” and that it would be “helpful” if the city government could ease people’s concern by giving a full explanation of the new domestic national security law.
But he said there were limits to what the government could do to point out where the red line was as it was not up to the executive authorities to interpret the legislation.
“Under the common law system, the judges, through cases, will elaborate the meaning of some of the terms under the statutes,” Chan explained.
“We do need to wait for [decided] cases to have a more definitive interpretation of certain particular terms under the statutes.”
Chan praised the initiative of the courts for their preparation of executive summaries for high-profile cases in Chinese and English to better help people to understand the reasons behind the judgments.
But he said the government could also do more to make sure decided cases were explained in language easily understood by a layperson.
Chan earlier said the Law Society was praised by mainland Chinese officials during a visit to Beijing by a delegation last month for upholding “neutrality and professionalism in major legal issues”.
He added the society was also commended for its “use of plain and simple language” to explain the domestic national security legislation to Hong Kong and global audiences.
Chan said he had made several overseas trips last year, including to the American Bar Association’s annual meeting, held in Denver, Colorado, in August.
He added the society had an edge in persuading overseas counterparts that Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” governing principle and its independent judiciary were “working well and still functioning”.
“They actually tend to listen to me more because I’m not from the government, I am the head of an independent professional body,” Chan said.
“So when I explain some of the more controversial national security cases, I will explain them from a very neutral angle.”
He added the society would host the 34th Presidents of Law Associations in Asia Summit in Hong Kong, which starts on Thursday.
Chan said it would be a “golden opportunity” for more than 50 heads of legal professional bodies from the region to “see for themselves” the reality of Hong Kong society.
“There’s no magic to change Hong Kong’s image overnight,” he added.
“That said, we should continue to work to do that … civil society and the government should continue to do more.”
