The successor to Chief Justice Andrew Li was finally announced last Thursday by Chief Executive Donald Tsang. Subject to the endorsement of the Legislative Council (LegCo) and report for the record to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, Geoffrey Ma will take office as the new Chief Justice, September 1.

It transpired that Geoffrey Ma's was the only nomination placed before the recommendation commission as he was acceptable to all sides. His popularity is apparently so high that after the announcement, Civic Party lawmakers and barristers-turned-politicians Ronnie Tong and Margaret Ng both dropped their previous insistence that the candidate selected to be Chief Justice should appear in the LegCo for questioning before he was granted endorsement.

It is not difficult to understand why. In addition to his capability and integrity, the 54-year-old judge studied in England as a boy and could hardly read or speak Chinese. To the opposition camp, this is the perfect candidate. The opposition had voiced fears that the chosen candidate would "collude with Beijing to corrupt the rule of law and judicial independence here in Hong Kong". It is difficult to imagine Ma permitting any such erosion.

This also goes to show how open and tolerant the Central government is in regard to "One Country, Two Systems". That is why most unbiased observers, including the UK government, have always been happy about the safeguards on people's rights and freedom since the handover. On his part, after the announcement, Justice Ma pledged to do his utmost to ensure the rule of law and judicial independence.

The rule of law under a common law system is one of the most important features of "One Country, Two Systems". After the handover, the Hong Kong court can only be blamed for erring on the side of common law in disregard of national sovereignty. Some people want to keep it this way because they do not trust the mainland legal system based on continental legal principles, and judicial independence on the mainland.

This purist view clearly does not hold water, and especially in practice it is difficult not to consider the question of national sovereignty and its ramifications. How to maintain the right balance is an art because never before has the court of final appeal been delegated to a city in a unitary government, not to mention the fact that "One Country, Two Systems" is unprecedented in history. Andrew Li has managed this most challenging balancing act rather well, and let us hope Geoffrey Ma will do an even better job in the future.

The author is a member of the Commission on Strategic Development

(HK Edition 04/13/2010 page1)