Recruiting foreigners to Hong Kong’s top court now more complex: chief justice

The recruitment of overseas judges to serve on Hong Kong’s highest court has become “less straightforward” amid geopolitical tensions but their presence or absence will not undermine the integrity of the legal system, the chief justice has said.

Andrew Cheung Kui-nung on Monday also warned against drawing “sweeping conclusions” about the rule of law or judicial independence based on a few high-profile national security cases.

The top judge on the city’s Court of Final Appeal made the remarks at a ceremony to mark the opening of the legal year.

Cheung said the system of inviting overseas judges to sit on the city’s top court to help hear cases would remain, highlighting that their presence had “long stood as a symbol of Hong Kong’s commitment to legal excellence and judicial independence”.

The involvement of foreign justices has become a subject of controversy in recent years after a series of resignations following the implementation of the Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020, which drew criticism and sanctions from the West.

The chief justice said it was “unfortunate” that a few judges had felt unable to carry on their roles in the city, but he stressed their departures did not mean a weakening of the judiciary’s quality or independence.