Beijing’s “Rule of Law” Strategy for Governing Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper examines the evolution of legal strategies that the central government has used in managing Hong Kong affairs in the past three decades. It demonstrates that the Beijing government appears to have successfully employed the tactic of "legalisation without democratisation" to neutralise political resistance, to resolve thorny issues, and to stifle pro-independence voices. However, as Beijing's legal strategies for Hong Kong have become more hands-on and assertive, the flaws and instrumentalism of Chinese-style "rule of law" have become increasingly salient, giving rise to deepening conflicts with the Hong Kong common law system. Legalisation without democratisation has given rise to a worrying trend of rising authoritarian legalism in Hong Kong.

Judges’ Understanding of Protests and the Cultural Underpinnings of Legal Repression: Examining Hong Kong Court Verdicts

“…However, Beijing also had the strategy of “legalization without democratization” in its governance over Hong Kong (Hiroko, 2020; Zhu, 2019). Immediately after the handover, the legislature reversed earlier amendments to the Public Order Ordinance and restored police power to curtail public gatherings.…”

“…In response, the Chinese state has become more proactive in utilizing the strategy of legalization. The result is the further politicization of the legal profession, declining public confidence in the rule of law, and radicalization of protests (Zhu, 2019). In early 2013, law professor Benny Tai proposed the Occupy Central campaign, which evolved into the Umbrella Movement (Lee and Chan, 2018).…”

The Hong Kong National Security Law and the Changing Character of Rule in the China–Hong Kong Relationship

“…However, as documented by the existing works, China has become more interventionist vis-à-vis Hong Kong over time, especially after the first massive social protests in HKSAR in 2003. Beijing's interventionism further intensified after the large-scale protests in 2014 (Fong 2017;Hiroko 2020;Zhu 2019). The existing literature identifies two principal ways the Chinese central authority has bolstered its influence over Hong Kong.…”

“…The existing literature identifies two principal ways the Chinese central authority has bolstered its influence over Hong Kong. The first one is related to legal affairs and mostly builds on the entitlement of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) to interpret the Basic Law (Hong Kong's constitution) (Chan 2018;Fong 2021;Hiroko 2020;Zhu 2019). The second way the Chinese central party-state has been increasing its influence in Hong Kong relies on informal political steps (Fong 2017;Kwong 2018;Lee 2020).…”

Legalization of the Chinese Communist Party’s Governance over Hong Kong

“…This paper focuses on the "rule of law" policy under Xi's government and the linkage of his domestic policy with his Hong Kong policy to analyze how and why the CCP's rule over Hong Kong was strengthened. Zhu (2019) examined the evolution of the political strategies of Beijing's rule over Hong Kong from a legal perspective, but focuses on neither the CCP's logic nor the linkage between the domestic policies and the CCP's rule over Hong Kong 10 This paper aims to explain that the "rule of law" with Chinese characteristics implies 1) standardizing the law, 2) centralizing power, and 3) stabilizing society. These characteristics are also connected to and appear in the CCP's rule over Hong Kong.…”