Article 43 rules clarified
▶ Conform to HK’s legal system, does not expand police power
After the implementation rules for Article 43 of the national security law for Hong Kong, which aims to further provide legal guarantees for police to apply the law and safeguard national interests, were gazetted Monday evening and took effect on Tuesday, misunderstandings and vicious instigations have flooded the internet, to which the HKSAR Chief Executive and experts clarified that the rules conform to the city’s legal system, while safeguarding human rights.
Noises circulating online on the rules claimed that they grant police new powers, such as raiding without a court warrant and ordering internet firms to remove content, or seizing their equipment. Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post described the new rules “scary” as the power to the police force is normally guarded by the judiciary, citing a barrister, while US news outlet ABC News said Hong Kong is grappling with a future under the law, and deliberately portrayed the city a secure land with people who enjoyed enough freedoms a year ago, implying that the law disrupted the people’s lives. Some Western politicians said the law infringe upon human rights and will cause social panic.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said at Tuesday’s press conference that the national security law for
Hong Kong is a mild law that
only deals with imminent criminal behavior, stressing that the law will not create fear but restore stability to the city.
“The seven measures in the implementation rules clearly stipulate that the law respects human rights. If the public observes the law, there is no need to worry,” Lam said.
Experts from Hong Kong and the mainland hailed the efficiency and close cooperation between the central government and the HKSAR government, and stressed that five out of the seven measures in the rules are based on Hong Kong’s existing laws, while only two were added to fill the enforcement gap, as the city lacks a law on cyber security.
Some predicted that similar implementation rules for other crucial articles of the law may come out, which will help “respond to questions and constitute a clearer legal framework.”
As the national security law started to take effect, some vague areas required specific rules. Experts predicted that similar implementation rules for other crucial articles of the law may come out in the near future, while some said there was no need for further implementation rules as they believe more details could be expected from the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law by the HKSAR government.
Removing constraints
Just as the four types of crimes defined by the national security law for Hong Kong are highly targeted in reality, the implementation rules also clearly lift law enforcement constraints faced by Hong Kong during the turmoil and chaos that plagued the city for almost a year.
When asked whether the rules are equal to giving more powers to the police and government, Lam dismissed the confusion, saying that the situation is just the opposite. “Without the rules, it could say that the police enjoy absolute power,” Lam said.
Tang Fei, a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times the implementation rules cannot be regarded as an expansion of police power. Apart from the two measures, which come directly from the national security law, the other five were seamlessly “transplanted” from Hong Kong’s existing laws.
The two measures refer to the right to remove messages endangering national security, and request for assistance and authorizing the interception of communications and covert surveillance.
“The first measure could not be interpreted as hindering freedom of speech as it is targeted against those who endanger national security instead of local resident’s speech,” Tian Feilong, a legal expert on Hong
Kong affairs at Beihang University in Beijing, told the Global Times.
It targets those who hype violence to promote terrorism, Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, a solicitor at the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, told the Global Times.
The measure fills the gap left by the absence of a Hong Kong cyber security law. Some social media applications developed by US companies have become platforms to launch a color revolution. That’s alarming, Wong said.
Article 43 “requires foreign political organizations, foreign authorities or political agents to provide information,” while the implementation rules highlights Taiwan, which experts said is aimed at the “Taiwan secessionists” who infiltrated Hong Kong during the turmoil, which can deter them and serve as a warning against collusion between Hong Kong and Taiwan secessionists.
Echoing Lam, Wong stressed that compared to national security laws in other countries, the law for Hong Kong is mild as it has no retroactive effect, and no death penalty.
“The Hong Kong stock surge and the peaceful and stable life enjoyed by residents defy predictions of the death of the city in the wake of the law,” Wong said.
Tian predicted that the implementation rules for Article 43 may be further supplemented, and similar rules for Article 53, which touches on the duties of the central government’s office for safeguarding national security in HKSAR, may come out in near future.
The implementation rules for Article 43 may be further supplemented, and similar rules for Article 53, which touches on the duties of the central government’s office for safeguarding national security in HKSAR, may come out in near future.