HONG KONG | Judicial independence not undermined, Neuberger says

Hundreds of Hong Kong lawyers dressed in black march in silence in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s judicial independence hasn’t been undermined by China’s recent policy statement about the territory, Britain’s top judge David Neuberger said.
“Judges here are as independent minded as those on the U.K. Supreme Court,” Neuberger, who has served as a visiting judge on Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal since 2009, said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in the Chinese city yesterday.
Lawyers in Hong Kong this month ousted the president of the Law Society after he supported a June policy paper from China that said Hong Kong judges were administrators who had to be patriotic. The paper was released ahead of a decision this week on how the former British colony will elect its leader in the future.
Neuberger said the word administration can be used to describe the activities of the legislative, executive and judicial arms of a government, as well as just to the executive. Patriotism isn’t incompatible with judicial independence, he said.
It is always right to be vigilant to protect rights and liberty, the judge said. He would speak out or resign from Hong Kong’s top court if he felt the independence of judges in the city was being threatened. Bloomberg

lawmakers stress basic law in hk
electoral reform

The electoral reforms set for 2017 in Hong Kong must adhere to Basic Law and regional realities, legislators said yesterday.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that Hong Kong’s universal suffrage must be “promoted prudently and steadily as it will be a historic piece of Hong Kong’s democracy and a significant change in its political system”.
It involves national sovereignty, security and development, legislators said during the bi-monthly session of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, currently underway in Beijing.
The congress started examining a report from HKSAR Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Monday, discussing whether to revise election methods for the region’s chief executive in 2017 and its Legislative Council in 2016.
According to the report, disputes remain in Hong Kong on core questions including how the chief executive nomination committee will be formed and other procedures for deciding candidates.

Douglas Wong