IN 1897, WHEN THE New York Journal told Mark Twain, the humorist, of the rumor he was dying in poverty in London, he was amused. He replied, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” hoping to nip the story in the bud.
The same can also be said of anybody who predicts Hong…
While Hong Kong was still run by the British, the Basic Law was drawn up, which included an article numbered 23 - which was an acknowledgement that Hong Kong should not be deprived of the security laws that virtually all other places have to keep them safe.
But some Hong Kong people were nervous,…
Sedition is a serious offence in countries around the world, and was made a crime in Hong Kong by the British. But when the city makes any move to codify this principle, it's painted as an shocking outrage with vague insinuations about authoritarianism. Grenville Cross looks at the actual facts of the matter.
THE OFFENCE…
The shocking violence of the 2019 Hong Kong protests would have been met by armed military troops anywhere else on the planet, but the Chinese coastal city had only its police service to face it down. But now, as horrific new figures emerge about a new record high in the number of lethal casualties of…
The problem for Hong Kong's critics is that our legal system works really well. One of the city's overseas judges, Britain’s Lord (Jonathan) Sumption, told the press the bald truth, saying “as a Hong Kong judge, I serve Hong Kong people”. He added: “I must be guided by their interests, and not by the wishes…
THE DAOGUANG EMPEROR tasked Commissioner Lin Zexu (image above) with suppressing the opium trade bedeviling China in 1839.
Lin initially tried diplomacy.
As British traders were growing the drug in India and then smuggling it into China, he hoped an appeal to their country’s sense of honor might be salutary.
Before the outbreak…
THE PHRASE “rule-based order” (RBO) is one of the most hackneyed in the West’s political lexicon, although “international” is increasingly included these days. It sounds good, can mean different things, and may be easily weaponized. It recalls Humpty Dumpty, who, in Lewis Carroll’sThrough the Looking-Glass, told Alice that “when I use a word, it means…
In at least one aspect, Hong Kong only fully gained the rule of law after the handover, says top barrister Grenville Cross
Before 1997, his work took him to many places, including on a rather scary journey to Downing Street to see an ancient body of Law Lords
The National Security Law in Hong Kong…
There's a whole lobby of people in the UK working hard to harm Hong Kong and this is simply their latest move, writes Grenville Cross
THAT LORD ROBERT REED and Lord Patrick Hodge have resigned from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal is a great pity and a big loss but not a total…
It may have been wise for the UK to part from the European Union for a more global stance
But the country's long friendship with China has been unfortunately soured by US hawks and UK Sinophobes
It’s crucial that Britain’s next task is to defy US orders and rebuild its relationship with the country…