CE authority above all? | ‘Chinese government is looking to spark fear among the population,’ says legal expert

A recent speech by China’s top official in Hong Kong, Zhang Xiaoming, has triggered controversy and is set to exacerbate a rather stormy political row, since he has dispelled the notion of a separation of powers in Hong Kong.
António Katchi, a legal expert and professor of law at the Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM), has expressed his concern that the Chinese government “went too far” by suggesting that Hong Kong’s Chief Executive is above the executive, judiciary and legislature branches, which shows a clear “disrespect for the city’s rule of law.”
“These statements seem to unveil the Chinese Communist Party’s bewilderment and uneasiness. As usual, the Chinese government is looking to spark fear among the population, in this case in Hong Kong and indirectly in Macau,” said prof Katchi in an email reply.
The professor sees Zhang’s remarks as an attempt to turn public opinion against pro-democracy personalities and groups, while also encouraging the local government’s repressive actions against them.
The chief of the Central Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong was speaking at a function to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, held on Saturday. His remarks sparked immediate criticism, as he said that the notion of the separation of powers was only applicable to sovereign states.
In a speech entitled “the correct understanding of Hong Kong’s political system,” Mr Zhang pledged to tackle the issue directly. “It should be clear that Hong Kong does not implement the political system of the separation of powers (…) It didn’t before the reunification, nor does it after the reunification,” he was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.
China’s senior official in Hong Kong quoted a 1987 speech by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who stated it would be inappropriate for Hong Kong to adapt a Western approach to its political system, which would involve the adoption of the separation of powers concept.
“The Chinese government may have gone too far in verbally expressing their lack of respect for Hong Kong’s existing law when digging up Deng Xiaoping’s remarks to suddenly deny principles and rules clearly and unequivocally outlined in the Basic Law, which until now had not been challenged (and are part of Hong Kong’s core values),” Prof Katchi stated.
Prof Katchi recalled that if Zhang’s remarks are true, then Hong Kong’s Basic Law and the Sino-British Joint Declaration bear no legal value. “If speeches by Chinese Communist Party leaders are above everything else, then they should not talk about the ‘rule of law’,” the professor added.
He reiterated that the content of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution clearly denies Zhang’s remarks.
“The first sense I got from these remarks was that Zhang Xiaoming knows more about Deng Xiaoping’s speeches than he does about Hong Kong’s Basic Law or the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Or perhaps he knows all those documents well but believes that Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese Communist Party officials’ speeches hold greater legal value than Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” he explained.
Pan-democratic politicians and judges in Hong Kong often invoke the separation of powers to define the city’s political system and stress the notion that this is what sets Hong Kong and Macau apart from the rest of China.
The South China Morning Post reported that the founder of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party, Martin Lee Chu-ming, labelled Zhang’s statements “shocking”. He stated that Zhang wanted “to re-write the Basic Law.” Meanwhile, Labor Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan questioned: “In the long run, how would Hong Kong nationals have faith in the Basic Law when its meaning always changes?”
On the other hand, Beijing-
loyalist personalities have downplayed Zhang’s remarks. Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said that the city’s Chief Executive was not exempt from the supervision and balances set out by the judiciary and legislative branches.
Differences over political reform sparked almost three months of protest in Hong Kong last year. Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers rejected a China-backed election plan for the city last June. The Chief Executive will be once again be chosen by a 1,200-strong committee comprised of mostly pro-Beijing personalities.