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taking this view included Simon Ip, Bar Association chairman Jacqueline Leong and its honorary secretary and treasurer Winston Poon, and Law Society chairman Roderick Woo.
While noting the benefits of having the CFA established early, the general consensus in legal circles was that the JLG agreement ran counter to the BL and the JD and that the court before 1997 would be acceptable only if it complied with the JD. Ms Leong said the Government should set up the court now according to the JD, giving it the discretion to invite overseas judges and allowing it time to function. Mr Ip said he would rather let the JLG agreement lapse by 1997 and have the court set up in accordance with the JD and the BL then. Mr Poon said it would be disastrous for HK if Britain and China were to press ahead with the JLG agreement as it would amount to both sides rewriting the JD. Mr Woo said he would not want to have the CFA set up at all costs.
An unnamed High Court judge was quoted by the United Daily (8.6) as saying that most judges wanted the CFA set up as soon as possible so that it could establish its reputation and credibility before 1997. The Government should handle the composition of the court flexibly, he said.
Commentaries
All editorials on the issue agreed that the earlier the CFA was set up, the better it would be. Sing Pao (9.6) said this would increase public faith in the judicial independence in the future SAR. In a similar vein, the left-wing HK Commercial Daily (HKCD) said the early establishment of the CFA would not only help the judicial organ gain experience in its operations but also boost public faith in the "one country, two systems" concept. Sing Pao believed the establishment of the CFA in accordance with the JLG agreement would help rebuild trust between China and Britain.
On the composition of the CFA, while Sing Pao was pessimistic that the Chinese side would accept any "flexible" arrangement on the number of overseas judges on the CFA if such an arrangement ran counter to China's principles, the HKCD noted that Lu Ping had made it quite clear that the CFA, if it were to be set up at all, must comply with the JLG agreement. The paper pointed out that any attempt to introduce "flexible arrangements" for the number of overseas judges on the CFA would be impractical. Noting that Legco had earlier rejected the agreement on the CFA, the paper observed that to allow the British to have "flexible arrangements" on the CFA question would usher in a "three-legged" stool situation in the Sino- British talks on the political system.
The SCMP (15.6) said one foreign judge was probably better than none at all in voicing dissenting opinions and raising alarm internationally should the court start bowing to political pressure and interference. Contending that it would do HK little good if fear of an imperfect CFA led to the establishment of a bad one after 1997, the paper suggested that it would be better to ensure the creation of an independent, incorruptible CFA by 1995 at the latest.
Some commentaries linked the subject to the current Sino-British talks. Sze Chun of the HK Economic Times (11.6) noted that the attempt by