Loopholes for foreign meddling must be plugged

Photo taken on July 14, 2020 shows the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong. [Photo/Xinhua]

This is an editorial from China Daily.

Those claiming that Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, founder of Hong Kong media group Next Digital, who faces charges under the special administrative region's national security law, has the right to hire any lawyer he likes to defend him, even if he or she has no local qualifications, are the same ones that he colluded with or who supported him in his transforming of a normal debate on a proposed extradition bill into a large-scale protest and then prolonged public disorder.

Considering the sensitivity of Lai's national security charges, one of which was that he was suspected of "colluding with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security", it goes against common sense that his request should be granted as it would open a new channel for foreign powers to intervene in China's internal affairs.

That's why the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has submitted a request to the 13th National People's Congress Standing Committee, which is convening its 38th session in Beijing, to further interpret the national security law in response to Lai's request.

Lai's case is by no means the only one of its kind that will go to court in the SAR. It is therefore right that the country's top legislature should give an explicit interpretation of the national security law as the SAR government has requested, and thus provide a clear-cut answer to whether it is lawful for defendants to hire foreign lawyers to represent them in court.

Those criticizing the SAR government's move don't care about the integrity of the SAR's legal system or the future of Hong Kong, they are just trying to exploit Lai's trial for their own ends. They hope to turn Lai's trial into a soapbox to discredit the national security law, the SAR government and the central authorities.

Just as they did in sponsoring their proxies to run for seats in Hong Kong's legislature so as to corrode Hong Kong's governance system, they are hoping to subvert the legal system so it can be used as a tool to serve their own ends.

If the SAR government accedes to Lai's request that he be allowed to hire a British barrister, it could potentially chisel a hole in the legal and judicial system of the SAR, which has been remarkably strengthened by mending its fences to fend off external interference.

Whether Lai will be allowed to hire a British barrister to defend his national security trial as he has requested hinges upon China's top legislature's interpretation of the Nation Security Law of Hong Kong, not the will of any external forces.