New national security office in HK to target foreign forces
With the passage of the law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), several new departments and units will be established to handle national security cases.
Experts said these arrangements showed the spirit of the “one country, two systems” and the cooperation between the central government and the HKSAR government for better law enforcement.
The law clearly defines the duties and government bodies of the HKSAR in safeguarding national security; the four categories of offences – act of secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security – and their corresponding penalties; jurisdiction, applicable law and procedures; office of the central people’s government for safeguarding national security in the HKSAR; and other contents, according to Xinhua News Agency on Tuesday.
The HKSAR government will, in accordance with the requirements of the National Security Law, establish the Committee for Safeguarding National Security to be chaired by the chief executive as soon as possible, said Chief Executive Carrie Lam in a statement to usher in the passage of the law by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday.
“Dedicated units in the Hong Kong Police
Force and the Department of Justice
will be responsible for implementing relevant legal provisions stated by the National Security Law,” Lam said.
According to the law, the new committee includes a national security advisor that will be designated by the central government to assist, advise and supervise the chief executive to handle national security affairs in Hong Kong. This arrangement is different from the national security committee in Macao, another SAR of China that is also implementing the “one country two systems.”
Li Xiaobing, an expert on Hong Kong affairs at Nankai University in Tianjin, told the Global Times on Tuesday the national security threat that Hong Kong faces is much more serious and complicated than Macao does, especially the unprecedented turmoil and a series of violent riots in 2019 which have horribly damaged China’s national security in Hong Kong and the city’s public order, and the interferences in Hong Kong affairs by the foreign forces led by the US are also getting extremely rampant.
“Hong Kong has been used as a center for international intelligence exchanges since long ago, but unfortunately, whether before or after 1997, officials in Hong Kong have not been trained to handle national security affairs in a very long time, so they need special assistance from the central government,” Li noted.
Powerful office
According to the law, the central government office for safeguarding national security has power of jurisdiction in the HKSAR, and the office is beyond the administration of the HKSAR government. The HKSAR must provide necessary convenience and coordination to the office while the office executes its duties.
Observers said this makes the central government the ultimate authority in the SAR when handling national security cases, and such authority has been forced upon by foreign forces and local separatists due to last year’s massive turmoil.
Li said now the central government believes “there is no need to be gentle anymore.”
Tian Feilong, a legal expert on Hong Kong affairs at Beihang University in Beijing, said that the Committee for Safeguarding National Security will verify the cases to see whether the HKSAR government or the central government office in Hong Kong should handle the case, the advisor will help the chairman and the whole committee to make a decision, and if they can’t come to a conclusion, the central government office for safeguarding national security would make the final call.
“Once a decision has been made, if the case goes to the central government office, from the first page of the case file, it would be irrelevant to the HKSAR government and jurisdiction organs, so there will be no extradition,” Tian noted.
Lau Siu-kai, a vice president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said national security cases are not normal criminal cases, because they are closely related to the security and development of the country, so it’s an international norm in most countries around the world that agencies responsible for national security affairs have special and even ultimate authority.
Tang King-shing, a former commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force (2007-11), said that over a very long period, Hong Kong has had a shortage of handling cases regarding national security, and Hong Kong police and officials have not been trained for this and have no vision on national security, so it’s essential for the new branch to recruit talent from outside.