Fearing for its independence, Hong Kong’s legal profession is fighting back. Last week, judges handed down three rulings challenging Beijing-backed positions taken by the Hong Kong government. Lawyers are planning a silent march to protest Beijing’s intervention. “What we’re witnessing,” says Yash Ghai, a University of Hong Kong law professor, “is the last gasp of the judiciary.”
Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” formula is supposed to protect the city’s independence from Beijing’s meddling. But Hong Kong democrats worry that Tung thinks less about protecting Hong Kong’s separate system than being part of one China. Lawyers criticized Tung for submitting the immigration case to China’s highest legal authority, which said last week the Court of Final Appeal should have consulted Beijing before making its decision. Hong Kong’s court will be tested again soon when it rules on the government’s appeal to reverse the acquittal of protesters who burned the Chinese flag. “We first have the one country,” Justice Secretary Elsie Leung said last week, “then comes the two systems.” And that, apparently, is the new order of things.
