HKSAR sets up conferences to explain National Security Law
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government is ramping up efforts to explain the new National Security Law, as the framework of the law enforcement agencies’ leadership has gradually taken shape.
The city’s Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung wrote in his blog on Sunday that the principal officials involved will hold a joint conference at the city’s legislature on Tuesday to explain the law and answer questions.
Cheung wrote he will also meet with all Hong Kong-based consuls general and representatives of foreign chambers of commerce in the following week for that purpose.
Meanwhile, he urged the city’s civil servants, whom he calls the “backbone of the SAR government”, to fully cooperate to safeguard national security.
Other top government officials have beefed up efforts to explain the law to the public. In a local radio program on Saturday, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah said violators of the National Security Law may permanently lose the right to run for public office.
Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu said in the program that with the exception of urgent cases, such as potential terrorist acts, the police will apply for search warrants from local courts when investigating national security cases.
Since the law was enacted on June 30, the management of agencies to enforce it has been coming into focus. A unit of the police force, led by Deputy Commissioner Edwina Lau Chi-wai, is primarily tasked with investigating national security crimes and collecting related intelligence.
Local media have reported that the unit will have a staff of nearly 200. Some officers with experience in investigation and intelligence gathering are reportedly undergoing background checks, the final step before being transferred to the new division.
In a written reply to China Daily, the police force said it won’t give details on the unit’s staffing to ensure confidentiality of operations.
Meanwhile, leaders of China’s Ministry of Public Security pledged at a meeting on Sunday to support the SAR’s efforts to safeguard national security.
The ministry will cooperate with the central government’s national security office in the HKSAR and offer guidance to the Hong Kong Police to fight related crimes.
On Saturday, some police officers requested that an opposition district councilor remove a flag reading “Liberate Hong Kong” displayed in the office.
On Wednesday, the second day of the National Security Law being in force, the police arrested 10 people on suspicion of breaking the law. Most of them had in their possession materials advocating “Hong Kong independence”. The following day, the first case under the law was heard in court.