with Koon asking "Who is destroying the rule of law now?" Tong defended the government and Lo, and said that Kong should not have challenged Lo in public regarding legalities. 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. Tong then said of the new legal power that "It is the most appropriate method to protect public health and prevent people from taking advantage of the loopholes of legislation for seeking their own profits." In November 2022, 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, Tong backtracked and said that the Hong Kong government does not need the NPCSC interpretation to handle the issue, saying it would be overkill. Tong also said "Hong Kong has a lot of barristers holding foreign passports. Are we banning them from handling these cases as well?," and also said that he hoped the NPCSC interpretation would not apply to Lai, but only to future cases. After the NPCSC ruled that the Chief Executive could ban foreign lawyers, Tong said it was not a major issue as there were only a "miniscule" [sic] amount of cases which would be affected. In February 2023, Tong wrote that China's powers to interpret Hong Kong's laws should be "respected" by Western countries. Executive Councillor He was seen as a supporter of Carrie Lam in the 2017 Chief Executive election. After the election, he was appointed by Lam to the Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo), being the only non-official member in the ExCo who came from pro-democracy background. References 8. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1307145/civic-party-lawmaker-ronny-tong-will-not-toe-party-line 9.http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news.php?id=124924&sid=4 1950 births Living people Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2000–2005 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2021–2026 Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Senior Counsel Charter 08 signatories Civic Party politicians HK LegCo Members 2004–2008 HK LegCo Members 2008–2012 HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 Alumni of Queen's College, Hong Kong Hong Kong Queen's Counsel