China ruled yesterday that Hong Kong's new leader should serve two years instead of five, a decision pro-democracy groups said chips away at the territory's legal system.
Legislators and local legal experts wanted Hong Kong's courts to have a chance to settle the term-limit controversy in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
But the ruling was made in Beijing by the Chinese National People's Congress Standing Committee. The panel has the power to resolve constitutional disputes in Hong Kong, which is supposed to enjoy a wide degree of autonomy under a "one country, two systems" formula.
Rowdy opposition lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung (
"I think this insults everyone in Hong Kong," said Leung, nicknamed "Long Hair."
The legal debate erupted last month when chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (
Pro-democracy lawmakers and local legal experts had argued that the law clearly says Tung's successor should serve a fresh five-year term. But the government insisted the next leader, or chief executive, should only finish Tung's term.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday's decision in a brief story that didn't explain the ruling. Xinhua said the term "shall be the remaining part left by Tung Chee-hwa."
Critics think Beijing favored the shorter term because it wanted the new leader to be on political probation and pass a loyalty test before serving a full term. But Hong Kong officials have repeatedly denied this.
Hong Kong's government asked Beijing to resolve the dispute, saying that a quick decision was needed to avoid a protracted legal battle that would delay the July 10 election for Tung's replacement. An 800-member committee -- dominated by pro-Beijing figures -- selects the leader.
But pro-democracy lawmakers opposed asking Beijing, saying they believe the law clearly spells out that the term should be five years -- a position the government held until changing its mind after Tung resigned. Many believe Beijing was behind the flip flop.
"What is most objectionable is that they put forward a totally unconvincing case," said Ronny Tong, a lawmaker and attorney. "The provisions are crystal clear pointing the other way."
Pro-democracy lawmakers also opposed going to Beijing so soon because they thought the local courts should be given a chance to issue a ruling.
"To pre-empt the judicial review, it's an affront not simply to the judiciary, but also to the rule of law in Hong Kong," Tong said.
Lawmakers have argued that Hong Kong is a world class business center because it has a rock-solid legal system. English is still used as an official legal language and many of the judges are foreigners.
Pro-democracy groups fear that if Beijing is allowed to frequently fiddle with Hong Kong's law, the territory's legal credibility will be lost.
It will become more like China's system, which has a reputation of politics driving legal rulings.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
RSS