27 Facts About Ronny Tong

Ronny Tong Ka-wah is a senior counsel and politician in Hong Kong.

Ronny Tong is a current non-official member of the Executive Council of Hong Kong.

Ronny Tong co-founded the Civic Party and was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, representing the New Territories East constituency from 2004 until he quit the party and resigned from the legislature on 22 June 2015, following the historic vote on Hong Kong electoral reform a few days earlier, having switched his political alignment from pro-democracy to pro-Beijing Hong Kong political group Path of Democracy, of which he is currently the convener.

Ronny Tong attended Queen's College, Hong Kong and studied law at the University of Hong Kong, where he graduated top of his class and with first-class honours.

Ronny Tong was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple and achieved top marks in the Bar Exams.

Ronny Tong took silk in 1990 and was the chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association from 1999 to 2001.

Ronny Tong continues to practice from Temple Chambers, where he served as Head of Chambers from 2001 to 2006.

Ronny Tong said the failure to make a public promise not to seek further interpretations of the Basic Law from Beijing had damaged public confidence in the rule of law.

Ronny Tong targeted then Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung Oi-sie's handling of the Sally Aw Sian case, in which the publishing tycoon was not prosecuted for a fraud plot involving her company although she was named as a conspirator in the charges.

Ronny Tong ran in the 2002 Election Committee Subsector by-elections in the Legal sub-sector, which was responsible for electing the Chief Executive of Hong Kong in the 2002 election.

Ronny Tong entered the spotlight as a legal expert when half a million Hong Kong people took to the streets in 2003 to protest against the proposed Article 23 anti-subversion bill that was later shelved.

Ronny Tong combined with the other pro-democrats with a joint list in the New Territories East, where he was placed behind the Democratic Party's Andrew Cheng Kar-foo and The Frontier's Emily Lau Wai-hing.

Ronny Tong intended to vote for the modified reform package, but was required to vote with the rest of Civic Party to oppose it.

Ronny Tong put forward a more moderate proposal in October 2013.

Ronny Tong advocated repealing an existing law which disallows the Chief Executive belonging to a political party membership.

On 31 August 2014, when Beijing announced its decision constraining Hong Kong's political reform, which would spark the 2014 Hong Kong protests, Ronny Tong was immediately critical, vowing to vote against it, which cast severe doubt on the government's ability to win the two-thirds majority a reform package needed in the Legislative Council.

Ronny Tong cried as he reacted on a live Cable TV programme.

On 6 December 2014, Ronny Tong stepped down from the executive of the Civic Party that he co-founded.

Ronny Tong would resign from the Legislative Council saying it was inappropriate for him to continue having stood and been elected representing the Civic Party.

Ronny Tong appeared on the BBC show "HARDtalk" where he defended the new security law.

Ronny Tong encouraged a judicial review, and when the judicial review deemed the government had no legal authority to invalidate the passes, the government amended its law to give Lo power to invalidate the passes.

Ronny Tong claimed that Hong Kong is more democratic and open than Singapore.

Ronny Tong is a member of the Hong Kong Golf Club, which operates the Fanling golf course.

In November 2022, Ronny Tong said he was surprised by the strong reaction to news that the government would seek the help of the NPCSC to block Jimmy Lai from hiring Tim Owen after the government lost multiple appeals, and said it was understandable for the government to want Beijing to fix "a loophole" with the national security law.

In December 2022, Ronny Tong backtracked and said that the Hong Kong government does not need the NPCSC interpretation to handle the issue, saying it would be overkill.

In February 2023, Ronny Tong wrote that China's powers to interpret Hong Kong's laws should be "respected" by Western countries.

Ronny Tong was seen as a supporter of Carrie Lam in the 2017 Chief Executive election.