One of the highlights of the recently concluded Hong Kong Legal Week 2021 was the simple fact that the city was chosen as the venue for the latest United Nations Commission on International Trade Law conference. UN support for a Hong Kong government-sponsored event runs counter to the narrative being propagated principally by Western media and domestic doom merchants. To read their screeds, one would think that Hong Kong was now a pariah state, one that no United Nations-sanctioned body would lend its credibility to.
This is just another example of the vast gap between perception and reality when it comes to Hong Kong. Why would a purported “police state” devote much time and resources to a whole week of international debates about improving and promoting various aspects of its judicial integrity if it has serious systemic shortcomings? Wouldn’t it then be vulnerable to more gratuitous outside censure as it conferred with legal representatives from around the globe, including some from countries that are at loggerheads with China over alleged human rights abuses?
Before we even look at the considerable merits of the event itself, we must accept that the international success of Hong Kong Legal Week presents strong evidence that the city’s much-vaunted rule of law remains intact.
The biggest challenge facing this event was not politics, as participants engage with an open mind, but the ongoing pandemic. This year’s event necessarily saw many of the attendees, including over 80 judges, participating remotely. These included Anna Joubin-Bret, secretary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, who spoke from her office in Vienna, Austria. She admitted that the pandemic made air travel challenging, but, using an Americanism, promised she was taking a “rain check”, meaning that she would visit Hong Kong in person as soon as the situation allowed. The actual nature of the event itself was a reflection of one of its key subjects: Sustainably Adapting to a New Normal.
One of the great strengths of Hong Kong has always been the flexibility of its residents to make the best of an adverse situation. This has been very much evident in its dogged enforcement of a rigorous quarantine regime, which was widely unpopular but later proved to be extraordinarily successful as compared to most other places, which wavered in its implementation. You have to give credit to an administration that governs according to science and not popularity poll results in fighting this unprecedented pandemic. The Hong Kong government should be applauded for instituting and maintaining those stringent provisions, despite widespread criticisms, that have kept most of its residents and visitors safe. This has required the timely enactment and enforcement of the requisite legislation, all manifestations of a highly efficient government buttressed by a mature legal framework. The UNCITRAL event saw legal experts from around the world confer in moderated sessions that covered the effect of emerging technologies on the application of law in the pandemic era.
A key figure exemplifying Hong Kong’s determination to adhere to the rule of law even under the most trying of circumstances was its chief justice, Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, who spoke on the opening and closing days of the event. The pandemic had the potential to wreak havoc on the administration of the law. During the first months that the virus took a grip on the city, only “essential” court hearings were held, and “non-urgent” trials postponed. Had this continued indefinitely, foreign conspiracy theorists would have had a field day, perhaps even suggesting that COVID-19 was created to undermine Hong Kong’s renowned judicial independence and reputation as a stickler to the rule of law.
Undeterred, Chief Justice Cheung and his colleagues worked tirelessly to bring technology to bear on what Cheung described as an “unprecedented interruption to our court work”. The Justice Department expedited the use of modern technology in Hong Kong courts, with over 1,000 remote legal hearings held in the city through Sept 30. This is the kind of practical solution to a real-world problem that this pragmatic government does best, and it was gratifying to see it on full display before a global audience. Seeing how the judicial process can be maintained through the introduction of technology under the most trying of circumstances, the chief justice has allowed that the technological innovations introduced into the courtroom will be maintained, exemplifying the average Hong Kong resident’s belief that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
It was also encouraging to see that attention was being paid to China’s constructive post-COVID-19 role in the Asian region. The penultimate day of the Hong Kong Legal Week saw Chan Chak-ming, head of Hong Kong’s Law Society, pointing out the tremendous opportunities under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as it offers “not only a mindset but also a practical framework for global connectivity, convergence and collaboration”.
So many foreign media reports in recent months have played a blame game over the origin of COVID-19 while paying scant attention to the need for positive strategies to expedite recovery post-COVID-19. It was pointed out that the BRI presents itself as a convenient vehicle for this vital exercise. The various panels at Hong Kong Legal Week thus explored the many ways the BRI can play in facilitating economic recovery in the post-COVID-19 era.
Hong Kong Legal Week was particularly uplifting in its focus on present challenges and the search for solutions, rather than a rehash of past issues. It shone a spotlight on the way the legal sector has applied itself to sustaining and surviving through these difficult times, and its commitment to a better tomorrow for China including Hong Kong and the whole Asian region, in the wake of COVID-19’s passing.
What the whole world needs now is more dialogue and strategic thinking and less politicizing of issues. To this end, Hong Kong has succeeded in hosting a world-class event exploring sustainable, positive responses in the face of challenges presented by a global “new normal”.
The author was admitted to the Hong Kong bar in 2000 and has since joined the solicitor branch. Her current specialty is private client practice and in 2021 she was a winner of the worldwide STEP Excellence Award.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.