Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement has just suffered another major blow. In a new ruling, a former UK Supreme Court president who serves on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal has done more than Chinese propagandists ever could to bolster the false impression that China is committed to the rule of law.
LONDON – One of the few commendable acts of Liz Truss’s bizarre career came in March 2022, when, as British foreign secretary, she supported the withdrawal of British judges from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. With the Communist Party of China (CPC) tightening its grip on the city-state, Robert Reed, then the president of the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court, and Patrick Hodge could no longer serve on the court in good conscience. Their presence had helped legitimate the CPC’s claim that the rule of law still existed in Hong Kong.
