Revised legislation could be passed within days
Hong Kong’s government could put a revised domestic national security bill to lawmakers less than 24 hours after they finished a review of its 181 clauses in a series of marathon meetings yesterday, opening up the possibility of the legislation being on the statute books in days.
Government lawyers submitted an amended Safeguarding National Security Bill to the Legislative Council at about 10pm, and the bills committee will meet for four hours today to review the modified clauses.
The bill committee chairman would after that send the report to the House Committee in preparation for the second reading to resume at a full meeting of Legco, whose next session is scheduled for Wednesday.
But a lawmaker on the bills committee suggested the legislation could be passed sooner.
“After getting through the House Committee, it will actually be the Legco president’s call to schedule the [resumption of the second and] third reading,” said the lawmaker, who asked not to be named.
“He is entitled to call for a special full council meeting if he thinks the matter is of urgent importance.”
In the latest amendments, the government suggested renaming the offence of “external interference” by adding “endangering national security” after it in order to differentiate actions that could fall under the law from “normal international exchanges.
Authorities also suggested redefining “public officers” regarding offences linked to state secrets and incitement to disaffection. Apart from officials, Executive Council members, lawmakers and government contractors, the amendments recommended adding “some” staff members of public organisations, as they “may have a greater chance to gain access to state secrets”.
The chief executive, alongside Exco, will be empowered to expand the scope of “public officers”. Authorities argued this “forward-looking approach” could allow for a more effective implementation of the law.
Also added was a clause that empowers the chief executive to make subsidiary legislation for safeguarding national security, offences of which can result in imprisonment of up to seven years and a maximum fine of HK$500,000.
A suspect can also be labelled an absconder immediately after a court warrant is issued as a six-month wait requirement was removed.
Legco held a special full meeting last Friday to get through the bill’s first reading.
It was immediately followed by a clause-by-clause scrutiny in the bills committee, which has since held back-to-back meetings for six days in a row – more than 39 hours of debate.
Some legislators yesterday said some clauses in the bill were “too kind” and appealed to authorities to lower the prosecution threshold for suspects accused of harassing personnel responsible for sensitive cases or their family members.
The threshold for the offence of “unlawful harassment of persons handling cases or work concerning national security” required the words, communication or actions of suspects to cause “alarm or distress or specified harm” to personnel, witnesses in a case or their family members.
The domestic national security legislation is designed to target five types of offences: treason, insurrection, theft of state secrets and espionage, sabotage endangering national security, and external interference. It was mandated under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, and will complement the 2020 Beijing-imposed national security law.
Before the session ended yesterday, lawmakers and Legco’s adviser revisited some of the clauses already scrutinised.
The government confirmed that prosecutors would not have to prove a seditious intent to charge a collector of seditious publications, but Security Minster Chris Tang Ping-keung emphasised the offence could not be established if the individual did not have “knowledge” of its seditious nature.
Tang said people who once again drew attention to “state secrets” that had been in the public domain could still be held liable. He explained that the secrecy of material had nothing to do with public availability.
It will actually be the Legco president’s call to schedule the readings AN ANONYMOUS MEMBER OF LEGCO