A new code of conduct in Hong Kong would require legislators to “sincerely support” Beijing’s jurisdiction over the territory and its chief executive, and prohibits anything that might “vilify” the government.
The proposal for the new code, introduced on Wednesday, included tiered penalties for legislators who breach the code, including suspension without pay for the most serious offences.
It stipulated that legislators must “sincerely support the central government’s overall jurisdiction, while securing the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s [SAR] high degree of autonomy,” as well as the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong,” referring to election reforms which ensure that only pro-Beijing candidates can run.
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“They should not intentionally vilify the governance credibility of the chief executive and the SAR government, nor should they deliberately undermine or weaken the effectiveness of executive-led governance,” it said.
Hong Kong Legislative Council President Andrew Leung (梁君彥) said the new rules would not restrict legislators from speaking up, but they should be careful to “not cross the red line,” Hong Kong Free Press reported.
Hong Kong’s governance system has undergone major overhauls in recent years, following a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement and politicians, which led to significant interventions by the government in Beijing.
Every major democratic party has disbanded or begun the process of disbandment, and thousands of people — including politicians and democracy advocates — have been prosecuted under the National Security Law imposed in 2020.
A separate proposal this week flags new prison rules, which include only allowing visits pre-approved by the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department, would empower the department to consider restrictions on clergy visits, and seek rulings to bar visits by specific legal representatives to imprisoned clients.
“In the past, some people have abused the visiting mechanism and conducted visits in the name of ‘humanitarian support,’” the amendment proposal said.
“In fact, they are using soft means to influence prisoners, intending to incite them to resist the supervision of the correctional services department, arouse their hatred toward the central government and the SAR government, and even make them become potential risks to national security and public safety after returning to society,” it said.
The crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy population has been widely criticized by human rights and legal groups. Senior foreign judges have left or resigned from Hong Kong’s appeal court, with several specifically citing concerns over the new environment. Hong Kong authorities reject the claims.
In an interview published this week by the academic journal Constitutional Studies, former president of the British Supreme Court Brenda Marjorie Hale, who quietly declined an offer to extend her post on the Hong Kong court in 2021, said she was now “all the more convinced that it was the right thing to do ... because, as things have developed, the National Security Law has taken over the Basic Law,” she said, referring to Hong Kong’s mini constitution.
“Even though the foreign judges are not likely to be asked to sit on national security cases, they are being asked to give respectability to a system that, despite the best efforts ... they are not going to succeed.”
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