There is an impression that quite a few military and police officers, prosecutors and investigators are pro-blue or pro-unification. While it is fine for everyone else to have the “unification dream,” it is not acceptable for these people. If Taiwan and China were unified, those serving as “the instruments of government” would all be replaced.
It is reasonable to assume that a conqueror would not trust the “instruments of government” of the conquered, as legal systems and understanding would vary. Just take a look at the recent controversy in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council.
At a swearing-in ceremony, two newly elected lawmakers infuriated China by pointedly reading China as “Zhina,” considered a derogatory name for China, and shouted loudly that “Hong Kong is not China.” However, it should not be forgotten that the territory is ruled under the so-called “one country, two systems” framework, and that Hong Kongers take pride in their three-power system. Problems arose after the ceremony, when Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) requested that the judicial branch overturn the legislative branch’s decision to allow the two lawmakers to be sworn in again.
Although Leung’s action was an administrative intervention in legislative affairs, resorting to legal means is still acceptable to most Hong Kongers. The problem is that the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People’s Congress (NPC) took the initiative to issue an interpretation of Article 104 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which covers oaths taken by lawmakers. As a result, 13,000 Hong Kongers took to the streets to protest against Beijing hurting the territory’s judicial independence.
What was the purpose of the interpretation? On Monday last week, one day after the protests, the NPC announced its interpretation, saying that: “An oath taker who intentionally reads out words which do not accord with the wording of the oath prescribed by law, or takes the oath in a manner which is not sincere or not solemn, shall be treated as declining to take the oath. The oath so taken is invalid and the oath taker is disqualified forthwith from assuming the public office specified in the Article.”
The two new lawmakers were disqualified from office without a court ruling.
In Taiwan, the Council of Grand Justices is solely responsible for constitutional interpretations, but it has never created new rules. The NPC interpretation is reckless, because it created new rules by deciding that the person administering the oath has the right to determine whether or not an oath is valid and that if it is so determined, the person should not be allowed to retake the oath. How could such obviously new rules become law simply through an interpretation?
Li Fei (李飛), deputy secretary-general of the NPC Standing Committee, said that the interpretation was issued to improve the Basic Law rather than to make a new law, yet that is precisely what the NPC did. Based on the logic of “special Chinese characteristics,” which runs in the face of universal values, Li also said that the interpretation was made in order to explain the original intent of the law.
This shows that Chinese law might have unwritten original intent, which can be interpreted by the NPC Standing Committee.
Is this what we call rule of law? No wonder student unions at 14 Hong Kong universities and colleges issued a joint declaration on Oct. 19 condemning Chinese and Hong Kong communists, saying that they would get burned if they play with fire. They even referred to Chinese as “Northern Barbarians.” One can only wonder if Taiwanese military, police, prosecutors and investigators think eventual unification is a sweet dream.
Christian Fan Jiang is a writer based in Taipei.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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