Balanced News: Hong Kong committee can bar foreign lawyers from national security cases: Beijing

China on Friday issued a ruling giving top officials in the Hong Kong government the power to bar foreign lawyers from representing clients in “national security” cases, paving the way for officials to block the appointment of media mogul Jimmy Lai’s British defense barrister. The National People’s Congress Standing Committee ruled that a national security committee chaired by Chief Executive John Lee has the right to decide whether to allow foreign lawyers to represent clients in cases deemed to involve matters of national security, and that its decisions are binding on the city’s courts. The ruling comes after Lee asked the Chinese government to rule on whether foreign attorneys could represent defendants in national security cases – and after three failed bids in the city’s courts to get Lai’s British lawyer disqualified.