Letting Hong Kong leader decide on foreign lawyers in national security trials erodes rule of law: US envoy

The US government’s top envoy to Hong Kong on Wednesday said a recent ruling by the Chinese government that handed the city’s chief executive the power to decide whether a defendant in a national security trial should be allowed to use a foreign lawyer undermines Hong Kong’s rule of law.

Beijing’s interpretation of the national security law that it imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 “could further undermine the independence of Hong Kong’s judiciary system by expanding the Hong Kong executive branch authority to make decisions affecting cases without judicial oversight”, Consul General Gregory May said.