Can Hong Kong become a ‘legal hub’? State official urges city to lean on strengths to aid country’s ‘foreign-related’ work in field, such as in treaties and international legislation
Hong Kong should lean on its strengths in the rule of law to help foster the country’s “foreign-related” work in fields such as forming treaties while using its “legal weapons” to oppose overseas intervention, a top state official has said.
Chinese foreign vice-minister Xie Feng, formerly Beijing’s top envoy in Hong Kong, said the city should make greater contributions to the construction of China’s legal work on the global stage by following President Xi Jinping’s thoughts on diplomacy and rule of law.
“[Hong Kong] should use its edge in the rule of law to continue attracting international legal organisations to set up their branches in the city and hold legal conferences, and operate the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organisation Hong Kong Regional Arbitration Centre well to turn the city into a legal hub in the Asia-Pacific region,” Xie said on Thursday at a conference in the lead-up to the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule……