National security vital to HK’s stability
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in her reply to a question concerning national security legislation during the routine press briefing before the Executive Council meeting on Tuesday that the SAR government is obliged to enact local national security laws under Article 23 of the Basic Law, and will do so when the time is right. She added that the government is taking steps to address public concerns over such issues, but only when conditions are right will it proceed to present a bill to the Legislative Council. Before that step is taken, it is pointless to speculate over the creation of a national security committee such as Macao has reportedly convened, she said.
The requirement for local national security laws to be enacted caught public attention yet again on Tuesday after VicePremier Han Zheng met with a delegation of disciplined services from the SAR led by Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu on Monday in Beijing and emphasized zero tolerance for separatism anywhere in the country. Also on Tuesday it was reported that the Macao Special Administrative Region had established a national security committee chaired by Macao’s Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on.
Macao completed its national security legislation according to its Basic Law in 2009; but there is no competition between the two SARs on such issues as a matter of fact. Although the HKSAR has yet to begin the process of creating national security legislation, that is no grounds to assume that any individual or group is safe to advocate Hong Kong independence without consequence. Indeed, the authorities are already dealing with separatism advocacy in Hong Kong these days.
The Security Bureau announced earlier this month that it had issued a notice to the convener of the Hong Kong National Party, an unregistered group openly seeking Hong Kong independence by any means necessary, that a societies officer of the Hong Kong Police Force had recommended the banning of the HKNP’s operation, citing Section 8 of the Societies Ordinance. Not surprisingly, certain foreign political and media entities almost immediately offered the separatist group their moral support by insisting its freedom of speech is protected by the Basic Law and what not, while completely ignoring the fact that advocacy of separatism is against the Basic Law as well as the nation’s Constitution.
This is not the first time those “human rights watchers” have resorted to such grand posturing of hypocrisy and most likely not the last time either, but they must realize their credibility is at stake when they encourage separatists to speak up, which is not really different from applauding the desire to harm the interests of the Chinese nation. Can any society truly tolerate public expressions of criminal desire? That is why the SAR government is not only required by the Basic Law to introduce the national security legislation, but also obligated to safeguard national security for the sake of Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.