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Minato City National Security Law|After legislation, what is the next step of "ruling Hong Kong according to law" (Part 2)

2020-06-23T10:30:58.376Z


There seems to be a "political time difference" between Hong Kong and the central government. Many Hong Kong administrations have clearly announced a period of time, but until the authorities talked and acted, we were completely ignorant and criticized the other party for "rebel"


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Written by: Huang Yunna

2020-06-22 19:52

Date of last update: 2020-06-22 19:54

There seems to be a "political time difference" between Hong Kong and the Central Government. Many governing parties have clearly announced a period of time. However, until the authorities started to speak and act, we were completely ignorant and criticized the other party for "betraying faith." There is little reflection on how "self-actualization" is caused. For example, at the Fourth Plenary Session of the Nineteenth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China at the end of last year, the Central Government has proposed "establishing and improving a legal system and enforcement mechanism for the maintenance of national security in the Special Administrative Region", but we are stuck in the quagmire of "anti-revision laws" This led the authorities to take the lead in legislating legislation for Hong Kong; for another example, although the central government has emphasized "ruling Hong Kong according to the law" since its reunification, and has strengthened the construction of "top-level design" and "bottom-line thinking" in the past decade, we have regarded the rule of law as superior and questioned Other people's claims are so incomprehensible that they are never taken seriously. The "National Security Act of the Minato District" will be passed as soon as possible on the eve of the 23rd anniversary of the return to the beginning of next week. The work of the central government to "administer Hong Kong by law" will come one after another, and will we continue to "jet lag" and deceive ourselves?

("How to Understand the Central Government Governing Hong Kong by Law" Series 2bis)

The deviation between the two places in understanding "ruling Hong Kong according to law" is indeed inevitable. (Profile picture)

"National Security Law of Minato City|After legislation, what is the next step of "ruling Hong Kong according to law (Part 1)" mentioned that since the reunification, the central government has mainly adopted the two strategies of "ruling Hong Kong by united front" and "ruling Hong Kong by law". The latter is more obvious; but since Xi Jinping took over the general secretary of the Communist Party of China in 2012, he began to emphasize the arguments of "ruling the country according to law" and "ruling Hong Kong according to law". Turn to "rule by law".

Further reading: "National Security Law of Minato City | After Legislation, What is the Next Step of "Administering Hong Kong by Law" (Part 1)"

The problem is that, aside from the stereotype that Hong Kong thinks that the "rule of law" in the Mainland is backward, there is indeed an inevitable deviation in the understanding of "rule by law" between the two places. The most basic difference is that Hong Kong, which follows the common law, believes that the "rule of law" should reflect "limiting power with law", while the mainland, which follows the socialist legal system, regards the "rule of law" as a tool for governance.

The British colonial history succeeded in reshaping Hong Kong’s original legal system and social order (the criminal law was applied to the Qing dynasty law at the time, and civil disputes followed the Chinese customs and clan norms). The common law tradition was implanted in Hong Kong, and it also promoted the emphasis on " The rule of constitutional legal order and the professionalism of bureaucratic rationality have become one. The liberal "rule of law" concept has taken root in Hong Kong, and people have formed a simple binary division of "norm" and "fact". Emotional identities that exclude humanity also negate historical cultural traditions, but merely treat these two factors as "facts" and incorporate into "standard" governance theory-this is the same as contemporary China that has thousands of years of historical heritage and practical culture. There is a clear gap in governance concepts.

We have always criticized the central government for "defying faith", but rarely reflect on how "self-actualization" is caused. (Profile picture)

Qiang Shigong, a professor of law at Peking University, one of the authors of the "White Paper on the Practice of One Country, Two Systems", recently published the "Historical Intent and Normative Implications of the Central Administration of Hong Kong Policy" published in the "Hong Kong and Macao Studies", a journal of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association-Revisiting Deng Xiaoping's The article "Important Discussions on the "One Country, Two Systems" Policy" explains that the concept of governance in contemporary China is a governance technology that transcends liberalism and develops the "rule of law" under a more macro-political order; therefore, the central government is formulating governance policies At that time, he paid more attention to the specificity, historicity and locality of "facts", and used this to connect the "norms" blocked by liberalism.

Simply put, "rule of law" is the way of governance in modern countries. If you want to achieve "good law and good governance", no matter "legislation" or "enforcement", you must return to the historical context to help legislators or law enforcers understand correctly Law, and use the law to set goals and directions. Qiang Shigong emphasized that the importance of "rule of law" lies not only in "law" itself, but also in a set of theoretical narratives about how to understand and interpret it, and the discussion must contain emotions and beliefs, values ​​and Goals, understanding, and direction, all of which just determine the direction and process of the "Fa". Qiang Shigong also believes that whether a ruling person can make good use of "rule of law" technology to govern society is precisely a big test of his ruling concept, ruling ability, ruling skills and ruling level. Therefore, even the same set of legal systems However, under the operation of different countries, nations, cultures, ruling groups, and legal person groups, it will produce completely different governance effects.

The central connotation of "ruling Hong Kong by law" in the central government includes the precipitation of China's thousands of years of history and culture, which is different from the liberal "rule of law". (Profile picture)

Taking the central government governing Hong Kong as an example, at the beginning of the Sino-British negotiations, the central government faced a dilemma between “regulation” (China’s own sovereignty in Hong Kong) and “facts” (the British exercised sovereignty in Hong Kong). The "norm" of sovereignty becomes (combines) the "facts" of China's restoration of sovereignty over Hong Kong. The central government must not only take the political action of "recovering" Hong Kong, but also need to form a set of theoretical discourses governing Hong Kong. Under the "norm" of the practice of "socialism with Chinese characteristics", it is summarized as the principle of "one country, two systems", that is, the coexistence of the "facts" of socialism and capitalism to the level of "standard" coexistence, which promotes the "standards" of the Basic Law "Formation-This is the central connotation of the central government's "government by law".

If we use the above-mentioned understanding framework of the central government to "rule Hong Kong according to law" to view the major issues of the "Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Adhering to and Perfecting the Socialist System with Chinese Characteristics and Promoting the Modernization of the National Governance System and Governance Capacity" adopted by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China "Decision", and re-read the content of "one country, two systems", perhaps it is not difficult to understand the determination of the central government to further institutionalize, standardize and programmatically "rule Hong Kong according to law"-mentioned in the article "to establish and improve special administrative regions to maintain the country The goal of a safe legal system and enforcement mechanism to support the strengthening of the Special Administrative Region’s law enforcement force has been implemented into the “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China for the maintenance of the country”, which is expected to be formulated and adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the eve of its return to the 23rd anniversary early next week. Security Law (Draft), which will combine "substantial law" (that is, laws that regulate obligations and rights of certain acts), "procedural law" (that is, laws that implement related obligations and rights), and "organization law" (that is, Laws used to regulate the law enforcement powers and responsibilities of law enforcement agencies) and other four legal contents, including the four major crimes of "crime of splitting the country", "crime of subversion of state power", "crime of terrorist activities", and "crime of collusion with foreign or foreign forces endangering national security" Crimes make corresponding criminal liability rules.

During the National People’s Congress and the National People’s Congress a month ago, the National People’s Congress just passed the authorization of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to formulate relevant laws on “establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanism for the maintenance of national security in special administrative regions” to effectively prevent, stop and punish any threats to national security the behavior of. Thousands of waves were stirred up in Hong Kong society at that time, and pan-democrats even criticized the Central Committee for "bypassing" Article 23 of the Basic Law to grant Hong Kong its own right to legislate to handle national security. The fact of legislation also shows that they do not understand the central government's concept of the rule of law and legal theory.

"Anti-revision laws" accelerate the determination of the central government to "rule Hong Kong according to law." (Profile picture)

In fact, Zhou Yezhong, the vice president of the Chinese Constitutional Research Association, professor of Wuhan University Law School, and Zhang Xiaoshuai, a special researcher of Wuhan University’s Inner Party Law Research Center, co-authored the paper “Re-discussing the National People’s Congress on the National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” in 2016. legislative power". They pointed out that as far as the "should be banned by legislation" mentioned in the Article 23 of the Basic Law, it can be seen that the central government fully trusted the future SAR government during the legislative period 30 years ago before the legislative power for national security was granted to Hong Kong. It is hoped that the Hong Kong government can actively formulate national security laws applicable to Hong Kong. The word "shall" reflects the "obligation" of the SAR government on national security legislation, while "self" shows the central government's "authorization" of SAR legislation; It is pointed out that the SAR government should fulfill relevant legal obligations to repay the trust of the central government, otherwise it will destroy the trust mechanism between the central government and the SAR. At that time, the central government will have the absolute right to use the central government’s comprehensive governance of Hong Kong to correct such acts of violating trust. For example, the National People’s Congress can withdraw the above-mentioned self-legislation authorization and implement legislation—unexpectedly, this has become the “prophecy” of today.

After a few days ago, Shen Chunyao, Chairman of the Legal Work Committee and Director of the Basic Law Committee of the National People's Congress, explained the content of the "Law on the Maintenance of National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Draft)". The SAR government will set up a "National Security Council" appointed by the central government, and the Chief Executive will appoint judges to deal with cases involving endangering national security, which will undermine "one country, two systems" and affect "judicial independence." However, there is no reflection on why Macau across the sea can allow local officials to co-ordinate overall national security affairs, but Hong Kong has to be "legislated", "supervised" and "guided" to make "weakened governance" a "self." Prophecy?

Hong Kong was originally a "rule of law", and an "anti-revision law" became a "demonstration capital." (Profile picture)

However, even if Hong Kong is "legislated" and included in the "Hong Kong District National Security Law" in Annex III of the Basic Law, it only means that it is "directly effective" rather than "directly landing"; in other words, the SAR Government still has to take the initiative to take care of the two The responsibility of the legal system and the completion of the relevant legal support construction as soon as possible can make the "National Security Law of the Port Area" truly implement. As for what should actually be done? The speech delivered by Luo Huining, director of the Liaison Office of the People’s Republic of China, on this year’s National Security Education Day for All, is worthy of reference by the SAR Government for reflection—“It is necessary to work hard at the level of the legal system and enforcement mechanism to maintain national security. Amendments to the amendment, activation of the activation, execution of the execution, will never let Hong Kong become a national security risk port"-"the formulation", the central government has already taken the place of Hong Kong formulation, "the activation" and "the implementation" Yes, the SAR government still needs to act consciously

In addition, Li Zhanshu of the National People's Congress Committee mentioned earlier in his work report that, in addition to "establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding the national security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region," the next work arrangement also includes "improving the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress "The interpretation system of the Basic Law", and this work is summarized in the first task of "ensure the full implementation of the Constitution"; this gives every reason to believe that under the central government's strategy of "ruling Hong Kong according to law", the NPC Standing Committee In the future, it is possible to frequently exercise the power to interpret the Basic Law, and may even formulate a set of detailed "Procedural Laws" for this purpose.

In fact, whether it is to establish a national security legal mechanism or to improve the interpretation system of the National People's Congress, Tongtong has clearly put forward the "Decision" of the Fourth Plenary Session of last year. In addition, the "Decision" also stated that it is necessary to "improve the central government's "The system and mechanism for the appointment and removal of the Chief Executive and principal officials", as well as "improving the system in which the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region is accountable to the Central Government"-there are reasons to believe that this series is about "improving the exercise of the Central Government on the Special Administrative Region in accordance with the Constitution and the Basic Law" The construction of the rule of law for a system of comprehensive governance rights will come one after another.

The above excerpt is from the 219th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly Report (June 22, 2020) "What is the next step in governing Hong Kong after the adoption of the National Security Law in the Minato City?" ".

More weekly articles: [01 weekly report page]

"Hong Kong 01" Weekly, available at major newsstands, OK convenience stores and Vango convenience stores. You can also subscribe to the weekly report here, or click here to preview the weekly e-newsletter to read more in-depth reports.

Demonstration of Anti-Amendment of Hong Kong Version of National Security Law Demonstrating One Country Two Systems Rule of Law

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2020-06-23

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