CHINA-MACAU: ONLY CHINESE JUDGES TO TRY NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES
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South China Morning Post reported on February 21, 2018 that a move is underway in Macau to amend a law which came into force when Macau returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999 and bar non-Chinese judges in Macau from presiding at court hearings involving national security issues. Senior officials in the former Portuguese enclave are to put the proposal before lawmakers as early as next month. At the beginning of the month, Macau’s Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan Hoi-fan confirmed that the government would propose an amendment to the casino hub’s Judicial Organisation Framework Law which would mean that cases involving national security should only be tried by local judges holding Chinese nationality. Chan insisted there was no intention to question the professional qualifications of foreign judges and the aim was to make the operations of the judiciary smoother and speed up trial proceedings. Professor Young, who is Associate Dean (Research) at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law, said it was unclear why Macau was taking the step at this time and warned: “This is a worrying development. Perhaps the real reason is a fallacious belief that Chinese judges will be more patriotic and more likely rule in a way that protects national security."
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