'Becoming a totalitarian state': UK judge on why he quit Hong Kong court

A high-profile British judge who resigned from Hong Kong’s highest court last week has warned the city is “slowly becoming a totalitarian state” and judges are being compromised by an “impossible political environment created by China”.

Lord Sumption’s comments on Monday came as a third senior foreign judge in the past week resigned from the Court of Final Appeal.

“The problem in Hong Kong has been building up over the last four years and I think all the judges on the court feel concerned about this,” Lord Sumption told the BBC’s Today programme.

“I have reached the point eventually where I don’t think that my continuing presence on the court is serving any useful purpose.”

On Monday he wrote in a newspaper op-ed that the city’s rule of law has been “profoundly compromised”.

zephyreks,

Oh no! Not the white guy governing an Asian country! How terrible!

magnetosphere,
@magnetosphere@fedia.io avatar

It highlighted remarks from the other leaving judges who said they still believed in the independence of the courts.

Okay, but where were they when they made those “everything is fine” statements? If they (or their loved ones) were still in HK’s/China’s jurisdiction, those quotes don’t mean much.

Crashumbc,

From the land of DUH… Everyone knew Hong Kong was dead the moment the chinese took it over. It was just how long the death was going to take…

jonne,

Yeah, did he really think that the judiciary would stay independent after the Chinese decided they’d be the ones vetting which candidates could run for office?

cupcakezealot,
@cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

someone from the uk complaining about another country becoming a totalitarian state is laughable.

Womble,

Ah yes, totalitarian UK which is about to (almost certianly) undergo a peaceful change of government after a free and fair election. Truely is there any less democratic place?

hydroptic,

“One country, two systems” isn’t quite as “two systems” as was promised, much to the surprise of pretty much nobody. I wonder what the situation is in Macau?

Humanius,
@Humanius@lemmy.world avatar

I guess it wasn’t explicitly stated anywhere that the two systems were supposed to be different from each other. /s

hydroptic,

“One country, two systems that are totally not the same system we swear”

viking,
@viking@infosec.pub avatar

Macau never had the same autonomy as HK. They saw themselves as a part of China colonized by Portugal, whereas Hong Kong was proudly independent and part of the British Empire.

So the situation there is just the same as it is in HK right now, it just didn’t bother the people a whole lot. Their entire business model as a country was catering to the Chinese society anyway, and on that end, nothing changed.

impure9435,

Becoming a totalitarian state Being turned into a totalitarian state by China

toastus,

A high-profile British judge who resigned from Hong Kong’s highest court last week has warned the city is “slowly becoming a totalitarian state”

Slowly becoming my ass…

HK is already totalitarian af.

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