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

Abstract

The conflict between Mainland China and Hong Kong regarding the issue of how much autonomy Hong Kong would retain is becoming increasingly intense, especially after the Occupy Central Movement arose in 2014. This paper focuses on the "rule of law" policy under Xi's government and analyzes how and why the CCP's rule over Hong Kong was strengthened. Although Xi promotes the "rule of law," it is different from the one in democracy. This paper, first, outlining the characteristics of the "rule of law" during Xi Jinping's era and explaining the differences between the rule of law in democracy and the one in China. Second analysis is revealing the personal affairs and organizational structure of the party apparatus to see the linkage of the "rule of law" policy under Xi's government with the CCP's control over Hong Kong, and third is examining the reflection and rhetoric of the CCP's "rule of law" governance over Hong Kong based on the politicians' discourses. This paper reveals that the "rule of law" with Chinese characteristics implies standardizing the law, centralizing the power, and stabilizing society. The CCP has continually claimed to be "Governing Hong Kong according to Law" but the CCP would only accept the "rule of law" with these characteristics and, of course, without democratization.

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

“…Moreover, this reform follows the requirement of HKNSL and the official discourse of the central party-state that states that Hong Kong officials need to be ‘patriots.’ The electoral reform operationalises this requirement even further. It establishes a new separate body which shall review if candidates for offices in Hong Kong are patriotic enough (Hu 2020).…”

“…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).…”

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.…”