Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong

Secretary for Justice of Hong Kong 🇭🇰 - Ms. Teresa Cheng 

Department of Justice, Justice Place, 18 Lower Albert Road, Central, Hong Kong
Note: Views discussed in our interviews are not endorsed by Consulate Review, or any member of our team. Our intention when visiting consulates and interviewing officials are purely cultural and educational. 

Near the US Consulate (which we will visit soon 😤), lies the Department of Justice of Hong Kong. It wasn’t as opulent as some consulates, but the ordinary decor fit the weight of the work that occurred in this building. I was ushered into a conference room with collections of books, from Hong Kong’s laws to other large textbooks. After a sweep by Ms. Cheng’s bodyguards 😳, I was introduced to Ms. Teresa Cheng, HK Secretary for Justice. 

Ms. Cheng first talked about the main role of the Justice Dept.: upholding the rule of law. The department does this through several mediums, as an advisor to policy decisions, independently presiding over prosecutions, educating the public on the rule of law and promoting Hong Kong as a international arbitration center. One important initiative of Ms. Cheng’s is the Vision 2030 for rule of law, which seeks to educate rule of law through schools, animations😄, and other programs. Ms. Cheng also seeks to promote HK’s legal services overseas, bringing in parties to arbitrate in Hong Kong. As a common law jurisdiction, HK benefits from the “common law discussion platform”, allowing case law and jurisprudence developed in other common law countries (such as NZ 🇳🇿, which our visit there uncovered) to become persuasive in Hong Kong.

The Secretary for Justice also holds a special role as guardian of the public interest. For instance, Ms. Cheng mentioned during the 2019 protests that certain actions were left unprohibited, and as such, she took out an injunction to curb further incitement.  When asked about the recent concerns with one country two systems, and national security, Ms. Cheng encouraged others to take a look at the hard evidence: that national security is the exercise of any sovereign in the world (every country has it); and that while the basic law guarantees one country two systems for 50 years, it does not mean it will end in 2047, especially if the system works. Furthermore, with One Country Two Systems as a national policy, Ms. Cheng would like to assure others that the capitalist way of life will continue. 

For prospective lawyers or Secretary for Justices, Ms. Cheng encouraged all young people to firstly do what they enjoyed. She feels its very important for people to aspire to high positions, to be passionate about serving their community, of which she says the Department of Justice is a great medium to do so. In her role, there is no “average day”, and much of it consists of a morning prayer, attending events, advising projects, and lecturing.  When asked about an “Ideal Hong Kong”, Ms. Cheng repeated the uniqueness of Hong Kong, its position as a crossroads between East and West, great food and ease of access to everything. In a message to those concerned about Hong Kong’s future, she encourages them to appreciate and cherish the uniqueness of Hong Kong, and One Country, Two Systems. 

We’d like to thank Ms. Cheng and her colleagues for their help in making this happen. We hope you learned something valuable!

- Nick