China-made national security law applied in Hong Kong’s common law courts: choice of interpretative approaches

ABSTRACT

The Chinese legislature enacted the Law on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (NSL) on 30 June 2020 to be applied in Hong Kong. This article compares the texts between the NSL and relevant Chinese Mainland law and identifies four ways in which the Chinese legislative provisions and legal elements have been incorporated into the NSL. The widespread presence of Chinese legal elements in the NSL suggests that completely disregarding Chinese laws in Hong Kong judicial proceedings may not be feasible and advisable in some cases for interpreting and applying this specific made-in-China law. This article contends that the courts should distinguish the admissibility and weight of Chinese laws in the NSL cases. The Chinese laws are essential materials for Hong Kong courts to construct the NSL, and broader admissibility of Chinese laws is appropriate for the NSL construction. At the same time, this article argues that the weight to be given to Chinese laws is a matter for the court to decide in the circumstances of the case, and the set of rules regarding the NSL construction Hong Kong courts have been developing could guide the weighing of different kinds of interpretative materials.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese law
• Hong Kong national security law
• basic law
• statutory interpretation
• conflict of law

Acknowledgements

This article results from the ‘Research Project on the Implementation of the Hong Kong Basic Law: Chinese and Comparative Constitutional Law Perspectives’ (RMGS, Project No 9229081). It was showcased at the Conference on the Implementation of the National Security Law and the Improvement of the Hong Kong Legal System, organized by the University of Hong Kong in May 2023. We extend our gratitude to all participants who offered valuable feedback during the conference.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Brendan Cliff, ‘Hong Kong’s Made-in-China National Security Law: Upending the Legal Order for the Sake of Law and Order’ (2020) 21 Australian Journal of Asian Law 1.

2 Han Zhu, ‘A Chinese Law Wedge into the Hong Kong Law System: A Legal Appraisal of the Hong Kong National Security Law’ (2023) 21 Northwestern Journal of Human Rights 43.

3 Law on Safeguarding National Security Law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (NSL), Arts. 20, 22, 25.

4 HKSAR v Chan Kam Shing [2016] 19 HKCFAR 640.

5 [2023] 1 HKLRD 751, [66]–[68].

6 Stuart Hargreaves, ‘Past as Prologue: Intercept & Surveillance Rules under Hong Kong's National Security Law’ (2021) 20 Santa Clara Journal of International Law 48, 50.

7 The unofficial English translation of the NSL is available at <https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/A215> accessed 26 April 2023.

8 ‘The Information Office of the State Council held a briefing on the National Security of Hong Kong’ (国务院新闻办就香港特别行政区维护国家安全法有关情况举行发布会), China Government Net (中国政府网) (Beijing, 1 July 2020) <http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-07/01/content_5523217.htm> accessed 26 April 2023.

9 Han Zhu, ‘The Hong Kong National Security Law: The Shifted Grundnorm of Hong Kong’s Legal Order and Its Implications’ in Hualing Fu and Michael Hor (eds), The National Security Law of Hong Kong: Restoration and Transformation (HKU Press, 2022) 50 [hereinafter The National Security Law of Hong Kong].

10 Jie Cheng, ‘Hong Kong’s Constitutional Order after the National Security Law’ in The National Security Law of Hong Kong (n 9) 98.

11 Feng Lin and Mengtian Fei, ‘A Paradigm Shift for Hong Kong’s National Security Constitution: A Comparative Study of the Impact of Its National Security Law’ (2023) 17 Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law 135.

12 Yash Ghai, Hong Kong’s New Constitutional Order: The Resumption of Chinese Sovereignty and the Basic Law (2nd edn, Hong Kong University Press, 1999) 139–41.

13 BL, chs 5–7.

14 BL, Art 2.

15 Hualing Fu and Michael Hor, ‘Introduction: Re-balancing Freedom and Security in Post-NSL Hong Kong’ in The National Security Law of Hong Kong (n 9) 2.

16 Lin and Fei (n 11) 150–193.

17 Hualing Fu and Michael Hor (eds), The National Security Law of Hong Kong (HKU Press, 2022); Guobin Zhu and other (eds), The National Security Law of Hong Kong: Theory and Practice (香港国家安全法：法理与实践) (Joint Publishing 三联书店, 2021).

18 BL, Art 23.

19 Explanation on the Draft Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, (2020) 3 The NPCSC Gazette 600, 605.

20 NSL, Art 12.

21 NSL, Art 15.

22 NSL, Art 48.

23 NSL, Art 65.

24 NSL, Art 14(2); Lai Chee Ying v Secretary for Justice [2023] 3 HKLRD 275.

25 NSL, Art 55.

26 Johannes Chan, ‘National Security and Judicial Independence: A Clash of Fundamental Values’ in The National Security Law of Hong Kong (n 9) 119.

27 NSL, Art 42

28 NSL, Art 46.

29 NSL, Art 41.

30 Po Jen Yap, ‘Judging Hong Kong’s National Security Law’ in The National Security Law of Hong Kong (n 9) 165.

31 Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanism for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Safeguard National Security; NSL, Art 1.

32 Cheng (n 10) 98.

33 Yap (n 30) 149.

34 E. g. NSL, Art 41.

35 Guobin Zhu (朱国斌) and Yuchen Yang (杨雨晨), ‘The National Security Law of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Legal System: Comparison, Analysis and Reflection’ (《香港国安法》与香港法律制度：对比、分析和思考) in Guobin Zhu and other (eds), The National Security Law of Hong Kong: Theory and Practice (香港国家安全法：法理与实践) (Joint Publishing 三联书店, 2021) 40.

36 Art 64 of the NSL provides that, ‘In the application of this Law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the terms “fixed-term imprisonment”, “life imprisonment”, “confiscation of property” and “criminal fine” in this Law respectively mean “imprisonment”, “imprisonment for life”, “confiscation of proceeds of crime” and “fine”; “short-term detention” shall be construed, with reference to the relevant laws of the Region, as “imprisonment”, “detention in a detention centre” or “detention in a training centre”; “restriction” shall be construed, with reference to the relevant laws of the Region, as “community service” or “detention in a reformatory school”; and “revoke licence or business permit” means “revoke registration or exemption from registration, or revoke licence” as provided for in the relevant laws of the Region.’

37 Part I of the Criminal Code contains general provisions and Part II contains special provisions on each of substantive crimes and correlated punishment. Chapter One of Part II comprises of 12 provisions (Arts 102–113). Provisions concerning terrorist activities are included in Art 120.

38 English translation of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Xinhua Net, 30 June 2019, <http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-07/01/c_139178753.htm> accessed 27 June 2023.

39 NSL, Art. 33.

40 Albert H. Y. Chen, ‘The National Security Law: A Contextual and Legal Study’ in The National Security Law of Hong Kong (n 9) 42.

41 Ibid, 29.

42 Ibid, 31.

43 Chen (n 40) 36.

44 Zhu and Yang (n 35) 24.

45 Interpretation by the NPCSC of Article 14 and Article 47 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Art. 3.

46 Chen (n 40) 26–27.

47 Bar Association Anita Yip Hau-ki SC: undefined provisions and the supreme status of the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong (大律师公会叶巧琦：条文欠定义、驻港公署地位超然), HK01 (香港01), (Hong Kong, 1 July 2020) <https://www.hk01.com/article/492568?utm_source=01articlecopy&utm_medium=referral> accessed 1 November 2023.

48 Strengthening the discipline of national security jurisprudence (加强国家安全法学学科建设), Xinhua Net (新华网), (Beijing, 18 September 2013) <http://www.news.cn/politics/20230918/c6addf247b40443498bc5dbde606e511/c.html> accessed 1 November 2023.

49 R v Loxdale (1758) 1 Burr. 445 at 447, 97 E.R. 394

50 HKSAR v Lui Sai Yu [2023] HKCFA 26, [47].

51 Ibid.

52 ‘Explanation of the NPCSC Legislative Affairs Committee on the “Draft Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region” Reported to the 19th Meeting of the 13th NPC’ (全国人大常委会法工委负责人向十三届全国人大常委会第十九次会议作关于《中华人民共和国香港特别行政区维护国家安全法（草案）》的说明) China NPC Net (中国人大网) (Beijing, 20 June 2020) <http://www.npc.gov.cn/npc/c30834/202006/f6fccaa395564e9e8dcbb3b24a5911aa.shtml> accessed 13 June 2023; HKSAR v Lai Chee Ying [2021] 24 HKCFAR 33, [18].

53 [2023] 1 HKLRD 751.

54 Ibid [61].

55 Ibid [62].

56 The first core issue is whether it is the legislative intention of the upper tier in prescribing the range of penalty for serious offences provided in Art 21 of the NSL to lay down a range of starting points between the maximum of ten years and the minimum of five years, as the applicant contended; or whether it is to set five years as a mandatory minimum, as the respondent contended. The second core issue is whether the legislative intention is that the three conditions specified in Art 33(1) of the NSL are exhaustive so that in their absence, the court cannot adjust the penalty of a serious offence in Art 21 of the NSL lower than the minimum of five years in the upper tier on account of other mitigating circumstances including a guilty plea. Ibid [44–46].

57 Ibid [87].

58 Ibid [88].

59 现代汉语规范词典,第三版 (Xiandai Hanyu Guifan Cidian, Standard Dictionary of Modern Chinese, 3rd ed.). CA [67].

60 Lui Sai Yu (n 53) [67].

61 Ibid [88].

62 Hong Kong SAR v Lui Sai Yu [2023] HKCFA 26, [47].

63 Lo Pui Yin, The Judicial Construction of Hong Kong’s Basic Law: Courts, Politics and Society after 1997 (HKU Press 2014) 87.

64 [2001] 4 HKCFAR 211, 221G-222F.

65 Sir Anthony Mason, ‘The Common Law’ in Simon N. M. Young and Yash Ghai (eds), Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal: The Development of the Law in China’s Hong Kong (CUP, 2014) 347.

66 Ibid, 348.

67 Han Zhu and Lu Jun, ‘The Crackdown on Rights-advocacy NGOs in Xi’s China: Politicizing the Law and Legalizing the Repression’ (2021) 31 Journal of Contemporary China 518, 526, 530.

68 Hualing Fu and Han Zhu, ‘After the July 9 (709) Crackdown: The Future of Human Rights Lawyering’ (2018) 41 Fordham International Law Journal 1135, 1161.

69 Cheng (n 10) 99.

70 Ibid, 9–10; Simon Young, ‘Police Powers under the National Security Law: A Commentary’ in The National Security Law of Hong Kong (n 9) 167.

71 Ghai (n 12) 404.

72 Hualing Fu, ‘The Impact of the Chinese Criminal Law in Hong Kong’ in Robert Ash and others, Hong Kong in Transition: One Country, Two Systems (Routledge 2003) 150.

73 Zhu (n 2).

74 Six of the seven Law Lords set down three prerequisite conditions that had to be satisfied before such reference was possible:

(a) [the] legislation is ambiguous or obscure, or leads to an absurdity;

(b) the material relied upon consists of one or more statements by a Minister or other promoter of the Bill together if necessary with such other Parliamentary material as is necessary to understand such statements and their effect; and

(c) the statements relied upon are clear.

75 Simon N. M. Young, ‘Legislative History, Original Intent, and the Interpretation of the Basic Law’, in Hualing Fu, Lison Harris, and Simon N. M. Young (eds) Interpreting Hong Kong’s Basic Law: The Struggle for Coherence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) 20.

76 J Steyn, ‘Pepper v Hart: A Re-examination’ (2001) 21 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 59, 67.

77 Ibid, 68.

78 Stefan Vogernauer, ‘A Retreat from Pepper v Hart? A Reply to Lord Steyn’ (2005) 25 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 629, 660.

79 Ibid, 658.

80 Ibid, 659

81 Felix Frankfurter, ‘Some Reflection on the Reading of Statutes’ (1947) 47 Columbia Law Journal 527, 543–4.

82 The Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission, The Interpretation of Statutes, Law Com No 21 and Scot Law Con No 11 (1969) at 27, 46, 51.

83 [2023] HKCFI 1382, [49]–[51].

84 Vogernauer (n 78) 659.

85 HKSAR v Lai Chi Ying [2021] 24 HKCAFR 33, [8].

86 Ibid [11].

87 Hong Kong SAR v Lui Sai Yu [2023] HKCFA 26, [25].

88 HKSAR v Lai Chee Ying [2023] HKCFI 1382, [35].

89 HKSAR v Lai Chi Ying [2021] HKCFA 3, [62].

90 Ibid [62].

91 HKSAR v Ng Hau Yi Sidney [2021] HKCFA 42, [29].

92 Lui Sai Yu (n 53) [49]–[50].

93 Ibid [50](3).

94 Hong Kong SAR v Lui Sai Yu [2023] HKCFA 26, [36].

95 Ibid [37].

96 Ibid [39].

97 Mason (n 65) 329.

98 NSL, Art 5.

99 NSL, Art 4.

100 Ng Ka Ling v Director of Immigration [1999] 2 HKCFAR 4, 34E-G; HKSAR v Ng Kung Siu and Others [1999] 2 HKCFAR 442, 455H-I; Gurung Kesh Bahadur v Director of Immigration [2002] 5 HKCFAR 480, [24].

101 Mason (n 65) 331.