1 Introduction to Arbitration in Hong Kong

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moser Michael ◽  
Bao Chiann
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
High Degree

This introductory chapter discusses the contributing factors that make Hong Kong a global arbitration centre that ‘meets or even exceeds all standards’ in the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators’ ten principles of an effective, efficient, and ‘safe’ seat of international arbitration. Hong Kong has long been at the forefront of international arbitration developments. It enjoys a high degree of autonomy (except in defence and foreign affairs) and retains a separate legal system from that of mainland China. Hong Kong’s legal system is based on the English common law and is guaranteed in Hong Kong’s constitutional instrument, the Basic Law. Furthermore, Hong Kong has a long tradition of upholding the rule of law and judicial independence, which are two key foundations for the city’s success as a global dispute resolution centre.

Lady Justice or the golden calf? The “China factor” in Hong Kong’s legal system

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-196
Author(s):  
Yan-Ho Lai
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Joint Declaration ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
Political Economic

Purpose Despite the preservation of “One Country, Two Systems” for 50 years under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Basic Law, changes are palpable due to the emergence of a real contest between liberal and pro-China actors in the legal profession and the legal environment in Hong Kong. After celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Hong Kong’s sovereignty transfer from Britain to China, it is valuable to study how the sovereign power influence the rule of law in its semiautonomous city by non-legal measures. This paper aims to offer a preliminary research on China’s political economic strategy, which is regarded as the “China factor”, in the legal system of Hong Kong, and its political, economic and legal-cultural impacts on the rule of law. Design/methodology/approach This paper argues that China exerts its influence over the legal system of Hong Kong in four domains, including ideology, political elections, legal organization and cross-border political economy. Based on media research and content analysis over published materials of various legal associations and institutions, it is found that China attempts to consolidate its control in Hong Kong by producing alternative legal ideology and discourse of the rule of law and by co-opting the legal profession under China’s united front strategy. Findings While there are liberal lawyers and legal scholars vocally engaging in defense of human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong, a network of legal profession promoting socialist and authoritarian legal values has become prominent. Hong Kong’s legal culture will continue to be shaped in accordance with authoritarian characteristics and will adversely affect developing the rule of law in this international city. Originality/value This paper contributes to the study of China’s influence over the legal profession of Hong Kong and in general Hong Kong’s jurisdiction by offering an example to the international community that contributes towards understanding how China adopts different strategies to expand political significance beyond its border.

One Country, Two Nationalisms: Center-Periphery Relations between Mainland China and Hong Kong, 1997–2016

Modern China ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 523-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian C. H. Fong
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Joint Declaration ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
One Country Two Systems ◽  
Twentieth Anniversary ◽  
City State ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
High Degree

According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration and Basic Law, Hong Kong was to exercise a high degree of autonomy under the framework of “one country, two systems” after the British handover of its sovereignty to China in 1997. In the initial post-handover period, Beijing adopted a policy of nonintervention in Hong Kong, but the outbreak of the July 1, 2003 protest triggered a subsequent change of policy. Since then, Beijing has embarked on state-building nationalism, adopting incorporation strategies so as to subject Hong Kong to greater central control over the political, economic, and ideological arenas. Ironically, instead of successfully assimilating Hongkongese into one Chinese nation, Beijing’s incorporation strategies are leading to a rise of peripheral nationalism in the city-state and waves of counter-mobilization. This article analyzes mainland–Hong Kong relations on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of the handover and offers insights from an emerging case study that builds upon the nationalism literature.

scholarly journals Developing an Index of the Rule of Law: Sharing the Experience of Hong Kong

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benny Y.T. Tai
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Downward Trend ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Major Aspect ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative

AbstractThe Rule of Law is considered a major aspect of modern governance. For every legal system, it is important whether the Rule of Law is attained and how far it has been attained. Though there are various indicators and indexes of the Rule of Law they all have their limitations. This paper reported a study conducted in Hong Kong in 2005, combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies, to assess the level of attainment of the Rule of Law in Hong Kong. It is found that the level of attainment is high but a downward trend is also discovered. A main objective of developing this new methodology in assessing Rule of Law, is that it could be used for tracking the development of the Rule of Law in a particular legal system and facilitating comparison between legal systems.

A Guide to the HKIAC Arbitration Rules

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moser Michael J ◽  
Bao Chiann
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
Privileged Access ◽  
Institutional Rules ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Made In

This book provides a detailed commentary on the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) Administered Arbitration Rules providing practitioners with an insider’s perspective on how the HKIAC Secretariat administers arbitrations under these rules. HKIAC is one of the world’s most sophisticated arbitration institutions, which established a set of Administered Arbitration Rules in 2008. Since then, HKIAC has enjoyed a continued yearly growth in cases. In 2015, HKIAC saw a record number of arbitration cases in 2012. This guide makes reference to the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance as well as drawing comparisons with other institutional rules and the UNCITRAL Model Rules to emphasize key issues to consider when drafting an arbitral clause or strategizing over the conduct of an arbitration. As well as offering an insider’s perspective it provides examples of anonymous cases handled at the HKIAC, and a discussion on various issues arising from arbitrations involving mainland parties or enforcing arbitration awards in mainland China. The book not only draws from seven years’ experience administering arbitrations under the HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules (2008) but highlights the various changes made in the revised Rules that came into effect in November 2013 benefiting from privileged access. The book begins with an introduction to the HKIAC, including a history with statistics and details of other services provided by the HKIAC itself. The commentary then goes on to examine each article in depth. Relevant supporting documents are appended including Recommended HKIAC Arbitration Clauses, HKIAC Administered Arbitration Rules (2013), UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules 2010, and the Hong Kong Arbitration Ordinance.

scholarly journals Modeling Internal Movement of Children Born in Hong Kong to Nonlocal Mothers

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 5476
Author(s):  
Paul Yip ◽  
Mehdi Soleymani ◽  
Kam Pui Wat ◽  
Edward Pinkney ◽  
Kwok Fai Lam
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Markov Chain Model ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Chain Model ◽  
Return Rates ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Future ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Government

In Hong Kong, approximately 300,000 children were born to Mainland China couples in the period 1991–2012. According to Basic Law, the mini constitution of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government, these parents do not have residence rights, but their children do. As a result, most of these children have returned to Mainland China with their parents. An important consideration for policymakers is how many of these children (who are now adults in some cases) will return to Hong Kong for good, and when, as this will have a significant impact on social service provision, especially in the education sector, where it will be necessary to ensure there is capacity to meet the additional demand. Prior survey results conducted by the government suggested that more than 50% of these children would return to Hong Kong before age six. It is important to be able to provide a timely projection of the demand into the future. Here, we make use of the immigration records on the actual movement of these children and propose a Markov chain model to estimate their return rates in the future. Our results show that only about 25% of these children would return rather than 50% estimated by the survey. We also find that parents with better educational attainment levels are associated with lower return rates of their children. Timely and relevant social and public policies are needed to prepare for their return to minimize disruption to the local population and promote social harmony for the whole community.

scholarly journals Higher Education Restructuring and Academic Freedom in Hong Kong

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-600 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carole J. Petersen ◽  
Jan Currie
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
British Colony ◽  
Publicly Supported ◽  
The One ◽  
National Governments

A former British colony, Hong Kong was reunited with the People's Republic of China in 1997 under the ‘one country two systems’ model. The Hong Kong Basic Law contains detailed provisions for academic freedom, ensuring that local academics enjoy far greater freedom than their counterparts in mainland China. Hong Kong academics and the broader community have also publicly supported academic freedom when they perceived it to be under threat. The authors argue, however, that the recent restructuring of Hong Kong's universities may ultimately pose a greater threat than any explicit interference from the local or national governments.

The Chinese Triangle of Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong: Comparative Institutional Analyses. Edited by Alvin Y. So, Nan Lin and Dudley Poston. [Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. 301 pp. £51.95. ISBN 0-313-30869-1.]

2002 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 1065-1103
Author(s):  
Pak K. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
North American ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Economic Institutions ◽  
Overseas Chinese ◽  
The North

This book is the result of a conference hosted by the North American Chinese Sociologists Association in Toronto, Canada, in August 1997. It begins with an introductory chapter by Alvin Y. So, and is followed by 15 papers. The papers are divided into four parts, which deal with the roles economic institutions, gender, social networks and the overseas Chinese play in the integration of the three Chinese states.

scholarly journals Is This Stalking? Perceptions of Stalking Behavior Among Young Male and Female Adults in Hong Kong and Mainland China

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (19-20) ◽  
pp. 3710-3734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan ◽  
Lorraine Sheridan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Young Male ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Coping ◽  
Stalking Victims ◽  
High Degree

Most studies of stalking are conducted with samples from individualist cultures. Little is known about the phenomenon within collectivist cultures. The present study is arguably the first stalking study conducted in Hong Kong. Specifically, this study investigates a large sample of Asian college students’ ( N = 2,496) perceptions of stalking behavior, potential reasons for stalking, and coping strategies that may be employed by stalking victims. Associations between these variables and gender and culture (Hong Kong vs. Mainland China) were also explored. Gender was more strongly associated with perceptions of stalking behavior than was culture. Gender was less strongly associated with perceptions concerning motivations for stalking and the effectiveness of coping strategies that may be employed by stalking victims than was culture. Effect sizes for all associations with culture were small, perhaps due to a high degree of similarity between the two cultures examined. The findings are generally supportive of similar results produced by previous work conducted within individualistic Western cultures, suggesting that stalking and the way that it is perceived may be universal in nature. This study concludes with the argument that legislation against stalking needs to be extended to non-Western countries, such as Hong Kong and Mainland China, as antistalking laws are relatively scarce outside Western industrialized countries.

Legalism and Revival of Treason

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Duncan McCargo
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Judicial Politics ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Factions ◽  
Political Trials

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the political trials that were a marked feature of public life in Thailand in the decade after 2006. The Thai legal system is primarily dedicated to the preservation of peace and order, rather than to more liberal goals such as promoting rights-based justice, or even to the conservative, technocratic objective of promoting the rule of law. However, the conduct of political trials in the final decade of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's reign led perversely to a decline in peace and order, as the justice system itself became a focus for discontent. Banning pro-Thaksin Shinawatra parties twice in just over eighteen months, while acquitting the Democrat Party on similar charges, provoked accusations of “double standards.” Jailing various pro-Thaksin figures for long spells on the basis of dubious lèse-majesté or cybercrime charges that were framed as acts of treason beggared belief in a twenty-first century democracy. Conflicts between two major political factions were acted out in courtrooms that became proxy sites for much larger, more unmanageable, and unwinnable contests. This book then focuses on a particular period of Thailand's judicial politics: from the contentious April 2006 general election, until the passing away of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in October 2016. This was the era of tulakanphiwat, most commonly translated as “judicialization”: an era when the courts were apparently given a special—if rather unclear—royal mission to solve the country's intractable political problems.

The political predicament of the pan-democrats in Hong Kong under Chinese rule

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-510
Author(s):  
Raymond Kwun Sun Lau
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Institutional Constraints ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Political Distrust ◽  
New Interpretation ◽  
Triangular Model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to make sense of the slow and frustrating process of democratization in Hong Kong through understanding the pan-democrats’ struggle for realizing universal suffrage. It aims to offer possible explanations for the current political impasse between Hong Kong and mainland China over the issue of universal suffrage. Design/methodology/approach This paper seeks to construct a triangular model of institutional constraint, clashing visions of democracy and mutual political distrust for understanding the pan-democrats’ struggle for realizing universal suffrage in Hong Kong since the 1980s, the nature of current political predicament they found themselves in and the current political impasse between the pan-democrats and Beijing. Findings The dilemma facing Hong Kong’s pan-democrats and Beijing’s leadership is attributed to the institutional constraints of Basic Law on Hong Kong’s system of governance, the clashing visions of Beijing-led Chinese-style democracy and Western-style liberal democracy as advocated by the pan-democrats and the mutual political distrust between the two parties. The findings suggest that this triangular model will remain relevant in understanding the political predicament of the pan-democrats under Chinese rule and the political impasse between Hong Kong and mainland China over universal suffrage for the coming decades. Originality/value This paper provides a new interpretation of the current political impasse between Hong Kong and mainland China over the issue of universal suffrage. It offers new insights into the nature of current political predicament the pan-democrats found themselves in amidst their fight for realizing universal suffrage since the 1980s by constructing a triangular model of institutional constraints, clashing visions of democracy and mutual political distrust.

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