Hong Kong File Photo: VCG

The Hong Kong Bar Association (HKBA) has kicked off its first visit to Beijing in five years, a trip hailed by HKBA chairman as "a reunion of old friends."

A 20-member delegation of the HKBA kicked off a visit to Beijing on Tuesday. Regular exchanges between the HKBA and Chinese mainland authorities had been frozen since 2018, according to local media takungpao.com. 

Some media described the visit as an ice-breaking trip, while HKBA Chairman Victor Dawes described the trip as more like "a reunion of old friends" after a long separation, while speaking at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, local media hk01.com reported.

Dawes said that the delegation had a friendly and candid meeting with Shen Chunyao, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee on Wednesday, and the meeting exceeded the scheduled time by more than 30 minutes. 

The delegation introduced the situation in Hong Kong, and the two sides exchanged opinions on the Article 23 legislation and the implementation of the Basic Law in Hong Kong, according to hk01.com.

Shen stressed the importance of the One Country, Two Systems principle, and said that China's constitution, the Basic Law and the national security law for Hong Kong are for the benefit of Hong Kong's prosperity and stability. Shen also called for more exchanges and communication in the future, Dawes told media.

The two sides agreed that the Article 23 legislation would come soon, and the delegation highlighted a balance between national security and human rights that could hopefully be made within the legislation, hk01.com reported, citing Dawes. 

The HKBA delegation's visit is of great significance, not only because it has not officially communicated with the mainland government for five years, but also because of its special status and attributes in Hong Kong all along, Fan Peng, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Political Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Founded in 1949, the HKBA is the statutory professional organization of barristers (senior counsel) in Hong Kong, with considerable influence in the judicial field. Its objectives include the prescription of rules of professional conduct, discipline and etiquette, and the advancement and improvement of the administration of justice and rule of law in Hong Kong. 

However, under the impact of Paul Harris, former chairman of the HKBA, the association took the lead in clashing with the administration of justice in Hong Kong, inciting "black violence" and harboring "Hong Kong secessionists," as well as going against the rule of law. 

The secessionist Harris was swept away and in 2022 Dawes was elected as Chairman of the association. 

Fan pointed out that for some period of time, the communication mechanism between the legal professions in Hong Kong and the mainland was actually missing. This long-expected visit will help both sides to bond, increase their knowledge of each other, he said.

The HKBA's visit followed that of a judiciary delegation led by the chief justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to the Chinese mainland in March. The intensive visits in less than one month reflect the determination of both sides to enhance mutual trust and cooperation through exchanges, and this is of great significance, especially after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 2023 two sessions, observers said. 

Recently, Hong Kong's judicial department and legal professions have sent several delegations to the mainland for exchanges, which Fan suggested should become a more regular mechanism. 

"Fundamentally, Hong Kong is part of the country, and while it has always had a strong degree of freedom, it is not a political and judicial enclave," he said. "Exchanges with the central government and mainland counterparts are a must."

"For many years, Hong Kong inherited the UK system to a much greater extent. However, now that the Chinese overall system is growing in competitiveness, Hong Kong's walks of life are also more interested in moving closer to the Chinese system."

As to the widely watched revision of Hong Kong's legal practitioner ordinance, Dawes said that he had submitted a position paper to the authorities in which he emphasized willingness to avoid a one-size-fits-all method. 

The Hong Kong government launched a legal amendment after China's top legislature in December gave an interpretation of the law in deciding the case of whether infamous secessionist media tycoon Jimmy Lai is allowed to hire a London-based barrister to defend him in his national security case.

According to an announcement of the HKBA, the visit will last for five days. The delegation also met with the director of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ma Xinmin on Wednesday afternoon. 

It will also visit the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and Peking University on Thursday.