China's top legislative body made a legal interpretation that targets overseas lawyers who do not normally practice in the city, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

Its decision could overturn an earlier ruling by Hong Kong's top court to let Jimmy Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily, employ Timothy Owen to defend him against collusion charges under a Beijing-imposed National Security Law.

Friday's ruling marks the sixth time the Communist-ruled national government has stepped into the legal affairs of the former British colony, which was promised a ``high degree of autonomy'' and judicial independence for 50 years when it returned to China in 1997.

Beijing was addressing the request filed by Hong Kong leader John Lee, who sought a legal interpretation hours after the city's highest court rejected government objections against letting Owen represent Lai.

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress said the city's courts have to obtain a certificate from the city leader on whether foreign lawyers could handle such cases, according to the state media report.

If the courts did not, then the city's committee for safeguarding national security, chaired by the city leader, should make the decision, it added.

The National Security Law criminalizes acts of succession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces. It has led to the arrests of many prominent democracy activists and damaged faith in the future of the international financial hub.

Lai, who was sentenced Dec. 10 to five years and nine months of jail in a separate fraud case, is accused of conspiring together with others to call for an imposition of sanctions or blockade, or engage in hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.

He also faces a charge of collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security and a separate sedition charge under a colonial-era law that is increasingly used to crush dissent.

His trial, originally scheduled to begin Dec. 1, was postponed until September 2023 as the city awaited Beijing's decision.