13 April 2021
Political System Transformation in Hong Kong
China’s National People’s Congress and Standing Committee of the NPC decided in March 2021 to transform Hong Kong’s political system. Within a couple of months, the Hong Kong government will pass local laws to enable elections for a reconfigured Election Committee and Legislative Council to be held, respectively, in September and December 2021, ahead of the Chief Executive election in March 2022. Are the political reforms justified? In examining this question, I consider the aims of the reforms, their implications, and whether they are necessary and reasonable. Overall, I have doubts whether all the reforms are necessary and proportionate to achieving their intended aims. Continue reading >>
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03 March 2021
Surviving Executive-Led Pandemic Control in Executive-Led Hong Kong
Hong Kong was one of the front urban regions that recorded COVID-19 cases in early 2020. One year later, there were recorded over 11,000 confirmed cases and 200 deaths. At the time of writing, this Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China is struggling with the fourth wave of infections, which is the most virulent thus far, due to the combination of community spread initiated a cluster of dancing instructors and students, and the infiltration of the coronavirus, finally, into the least hygienic environs of the built-up areas. Continue reading >>
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19 January 2021
Being Naïve or Putting Business First?
The European Union would like to believe that it is acting robustly and cohesively to promote human rights and democracy globally. This (self-)perception as a force of good in terms of responsible business conduct and human rights protection might however be less accurate than many within the EU think. Some details about the recent EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) seem to spoil this rosy picture. Continue reading >>
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27 May 2020
Corona Constitutional #30: One Country, One System
Ein Vierteljahrhundert lang hat sich Hong Kong als liberale, rechtsstaatliche Insel in einem autoritären Staat gehalten. Nun plant die chinesische Regierung ein neues Sicherheitsgesetz, das von Liberalität und Grundrechtsschutz wohl nicht viel übrig lassen wird. Im Podcast-Interview mit Max Steinbeis beleuchtet DAVID LAW von der Universität Hong Kong die verfassungsrechtlichen Hintergründe dieser bedrückenden Entwicklung, und stößt auf die dringende Frage: Welche Möglichkeiten und welche Verantwortung haben Wissenschaftler_innen, wenn es brenzlig wird im Kampf um die Freiheit? Continue reading >>
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21 April 2020
Corona Constitutional #13: In Hongkong wird es dunkel
Erinnern Sie sich? In grauer Vorzeit, vor der Krise, im Jahr 2019 gab es eine riesige Protestbewegung in Hongkong. Hunderttausende gingen auf die Straße, um ihre Freiheitsrechte und die Unabhängigkeit ihrer Verfassungsinstitutionen gegen den Zugriff der Zentralregierung in Peking zu verteidigen. Die nutzt jetzt die Coronakrise, um mit ihren Gegnern abzurechnen. Übers Wochenende wurden viele prominente Regimekritiker in Hongkong verhaftet, die Protestbewegung klemmt im Lockdown fest, die Weltöffentlichkeit hat etwas anderes zu tun, als sich über Hongkong aufzuregen. Können wir uns das leisten, in Zeiten, wo ohnehin schon autoritäre Regimes ihr Krisenmanagement als Vorbild anpreisen, das den liberalen Demokratien angeblich überlegen ist? Darüber spricht Max Steinbeis mit der Verfassungsrechtsprofessorin CORA CHAN von der Hong Kong University, die direkt vor Ort von ihrer Einschätzung der Lage berichtet. Continue reading >>
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14 April 2020
Fear of Unaccountability vs Fear of a Pandemic: COVID-19 in Hong Kong
When news began to circulate about a novel virus in December 2019, Hong Kong was in the midst of protests that had been going on for months. There were (and continue to be) widespread demands for accountability and democracy, accompanied by a significant degree of public distrust and dissatisfaction towards the Government. Pertinently, the Government had just invoked hugely controversial emergency powers to quell the protests. Hong Kong was also one of the hardest-hit regions during the SARS epidemic 17 years ago, and there was a collective determination not to repeat the tragedy. Continue reading >>
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28 November 2019
Chinese (Anti-)Constitutionalism
Many (Verfassungs-)blog posts on China, be it on tweets, white papers, or the Social Credit System, criticize legal institutions and realities by highlighting their difference from “Western” or constitutionalist traditions. This makes it rather easy for the explicitly anti-Western and anti-constitutionalist official Chinese system of thought, Sino-Marxism, to reject any criticism – either as Eurocentric, (legal) Orientalist, and “culturally hegemonic” or as ignorant of “theoretical basis” of the Chinese system. Knowing Sino-Marxism, which provides powerful political but only limited analytical tools, is thus crucial for transnational and global constitutionalists in order to defend their values without being accused of a lack of understanding – also in the current case of Hong Kong. Continue reading >>
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22 November 2019
The Hong Kong Judiciary and Beijing’s Temper Tantrum
On 18 November 2019, Hong Kong’s Court of First Instance held that parts of the Emergency Regulations Ordinance, and the Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation enacted pursuant to the Ordinance, violate the territory’s Basic Law – its constitutional instrument. Beijing’s response to the ruling was the equivalent of a temper tantrum. Viewed in light of the Court's judgment and Beijing’s lengthy history of undermining the Hong Kong judiciary, Beijing’s latest outbursts amount to nothing less than a declaration of war on the territory’s common law legal system. Continue reading >>
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30 June 2017
Twenty Years ‘One Country, Two Systems’ in Hong Kong: A Reason to Celebrate?
The 1st July 2017 marks the 20th anniversary of the British-Chinese handover of Hong Kong. Recent developments in Hong Kong illustrate that despite the anniversary, the current state of affairs of ‘one country, two systems’ does not give much reason to celebrate. Continue reading >>
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