Alan Hoo Hong-ching, SBS, SC, JP (; born 5 October 1951) is a Hong Kong barrister and politician. He is the chairman of the Basic Law Institute, Hong Kong member of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

(CPPCC) and vice-chairman of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Biography

Hoo was born in 1950 in Hong Kong and was educated at the St. Paul's College. He later studied law at

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 milli ...

and was called to the Bar in England in 1973 and in Hong Kong in 1975. He became

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1990. He was a member of the 400-member Selection Committee which was responsible for electing the first

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

in 1996. The Selection Committee was replaced by the

Election Committee The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Ho ...

in which Hoo has been a member through the Legal subsector until he was defeated in 2006. He returned to the Election Committee through

(CPPCC) subsector in 2011, in which he has been a Hong Kong delegate of the national advisory body. He was made

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...

in 2002 and was awarded

Silver Bauhinia Star The Silver Bauhinia Star (, SBS) is the second Bauhinia Star rank in the honours system of Hong Kong, awarded to people who have taken a leading part in public affairs or voluntary work over a long period. The award was created in 1997 to repla ...

(SBS) in 2004. Hoo had been the leading pro-Beijing voice in the legal sector. In 2010, he criticised the

Civic Party The Civic Party (CP) is a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong. It is currently chaired by barrister Alan Leong. The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, which was derived from the ...

and the

League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parliame ...

launching the " Five Constituencies Referendum" movement to trigger a ''de facto'' referendum by resigning members of the Legislative Council from each constituency. He said the move challenged the Chinese sovereignty and urged the government to amend law to fill the loophole. In 2014 in response to the Occupy Central plan put forwarded by the

pro-democrats The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic L ...

to occupy the financial district in Hong Kong to pressure to the government to implement universal suffrage, Hoo said that the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

(PLA) should act on the basis of the national security law with the vacuum left by the absence of the

Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 () is an article in the Basic Law, the constitution of Hong Kong. It states that Hong Kong "shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People ...

. He joined the pro-business

in 2015 during the time the party leader James Tien was stripped of his seat in the CPPCC after Tien urged Chief Executive

Leung Chun-ying Leung Chun-ying (; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor, who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since Mar ...

to consider stepping down at the height of the

2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after ...

. He became the vice-chairman of the party in October 2016. In April 2016, Alan Hoo called on the Hong Kong government to immediately arrest members of newly-formed political parties,

Demosisto Demosisto (stylised Demosistō) () was a pro-democracy political organisation established on 10 April 2016 as a political party. It was led by Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow – former leaders of Scholarism, along with Nathan Law, former secre ...

and

Hong Kong National Party The Hong Kong National Party was a localist political party in Hong Kong. It was the first political party in Hong Kong to advocate for Hong Kong independence. The Hong Kong National Party is also the first political party to be outlawed since ...

(HKNP) of committing treason and sedition, over their advocacy on the

Hong Kong independence Hong Kong independence is a political movement that advocates the establishment of Hong Kong as an independent sovereign state. Hong Kong is one of two Special administrative regions of China (SAR) which enjoys a certain degree of autonomy ...

. In May 2017, Hoo shocked the public when he said all Hong Kong underground spaces belong to China. The remarks came when he argued for the Chinese officers' right to enforce mainland laws beneath the ground level in the cross-border terminus of the

Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link Hong Kong Section The Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link (sometimes abbreviated "XRL HK section") is a 26-km long stretch of high-speed rail that links Hong Kong to mainland China. It is one of the most expensive infrastru ...

. Hoo cited the 1997 decree by the

PRC State Council The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Government since 1954 (particularly in relation to local governments), is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the pre ...

which stipulated Hong Kong’s border details in which Hoo argued that the city’s autonomy only covered the land and sea "surfaces". Local legal professionals dismissed Hoo's remarks as "absurd" and legally erroneous.

Personal life

He married

Flora Cheong-Leen Flora Zeta Elizabeth Cheong-Leen (born November 20, 1959) is a Hong Kong actress and fashion designer. Biography Cheong-Leen is an Australian who was born in Hong Kong. Her father Hilton Cheong-Leen was born in Georgetown, British Guyana a ...

, a fashion designer and daughter of politician

Hilton Cheong-Leen Hilton Cheong-Leen, CBE, JP (; 6 August 1922 – 4 January 2022) was a Hong Kong politician and businessman. He is the longest uninterrupted serving elected officeholder in Hong Kong history as an elected member of the Urban Council of Hong Ko ...

in 1992, but the marriage lasted only three months. He remarried Yu Wai-man in 1999 and had two children. The couple divorced in 2008. He remarried Liz Kong Hei-man in 2012 and had a daughter together. In 2013, Hoo's mother Linda Chuan Yun-chuu called a press conference alleging that her only son had barred her from their

Pok Fu Lam Pok Fu Lam or Pokfulam is a residential area on Hong Kong Island, at the western end of the Southern District. It is a valley between Victoria Peak and Mount Kellett, around Telegraph Bay. Pok Fu Lam can claim several ''firsts'' in the histo ...

home and a home she owned in Shanghai. She also claimed that Hoo had refused to take her phone calls for six months or to return HK$11 million in cash. Hoo denied the accusations and stressed that he loved his mother very much. The two parties issued a joint statement three weeks later stating that they had reached a "satisfactory" conclusion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoo, Alan 1951 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Barristers of Hong Kong Hong Kong Senior Counsel Liberal Party (Hong Kong) politicians 20th-century King's Counsel Members of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 1998–2000 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2000–2005 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021 Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star Hong Kong Queen's Counsel