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Boris Johnson Backs Withdrawal of Judges From Hong Kong Top Court
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March 31, 2022
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1:08Now PlayingThe U.K. withdrew its judges from the Supreme Court sitting in Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal, saying China is using its national security law to undermine fundamental rights and freedoms in the former British colony.
"I want to thank the judges in Hong Kong's court for everything that they've been doing," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. "But I think that they've evidently concluded that the constraints of the national security law make it impossible for them to continue to serve in the way that they would want."
“We have seen a systematic erosion of liberty and democracy in Hong Kong,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement. “The situation has reached a tipping point where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit on Hong Kong’s leading court, and would risk legitimizing oppression.”
The U.K. has sent members of its Supreme Court to Hong Kong since the territory was returned to China in 1997, with the territory sticking to the English Common Law forming a key part of the “one country, two systems” agreement with Beijing. That has been credited with maintaining Hong Kong’s status as a global financial center after the handover.
But Britain argues that China’s security law violates that agreement, and has criticized authorities’ moves to crack down on dissent.
Hong Kong “has shifted too far from the freedoms that we hold dear -- making free expression and honest critique of the state a criminal offense,” U.K. Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said in the statement.
In response, Hong Kong’s Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng wrote on her blog that Hong Kong’s judicial independence is “constitutionally guaranteed” and “will not be shaken.”
China’s sweeping security legislation, which asserts global jurisdiction for cases involving terrorism, secession, subversion and collusion with foreign powers, has major implications for the Hong Kong judiciary as it responds to the new law. Some prominent cases of pro-democracy activists, including Jimmy Lai and Andy Li, are currently working their way through the system.
The role of Britain’s two most senior judges, President of the U.K.’s Supreme Court Robert Reed and his deputy Patrick Hodge, carries risks for Boris Johnson’s government. Both resigned from their positions as non-permanent judges in the Hong Kong court following Wednesday’s announcement.
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