6 - The Clash of Legal Cultures

Summary

This chapter examines Hong Kong perspectives on the rule of law and argues that concern with maintaining the rule of law has been at the heart of the battle over political reform. In these political clashes a rather hardline Beijing approach to rule by law is juxtaposed against the very liberal Hong Kong perspective developed under British rule. As deLisle points out inand Cullen and Campbell elaborate on, there is a wide gap between Hong Kong and Beijing on the rule of law. With Beijing’s perceived lack of the rule of law, Hong Kongers have generally viewed the promised high degree of autonomy and noninterference by the central government as crucial to maintaining the rule of law and avoiding arbitrary rule in Hong Kong’s separate system. Such hands-off approach was clearly understood in formulating the “one country, two systems” model for Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law, though application has fallen short. Starting with the historical commitments, this chapter critically examines the series of official reports and decisions surrounding the 2014 clashes over political reform in Hong Kong and considers their relevance to the rule-of-law debate.