HK security law draft unveiled

New agency will be set up in city to oversee implementation

BEIJING: China has confirmed the setting up of an agency in Hong Kong to oversee the implementation of a national security law as the country’s top lawmaking body released details about the draft legislation.

The move on Saturday was yet another sign that the law could come into place in a matter of weeks.

It is the most detailed that Beijing has ever been on the law, which was first mooted at the annual parliamentary session last month.

“The duties of the National Security Agency in Hong Kong are: to analyse and judge the situation of safeguarding the national security of (Hong Kong) and to provide opinions and suggestions on major strategies and important policies for maintaining the national security; to supervise, guide, coordinate and support the implementation of the maintenance of the national security of (Hong Kong); collect and analyse national security intelligence information; handle crimes against national security according to law,” the draft said.

“It should be noted that the National Security Agency in Hong Kong and the relevant national organs exercise jurisdiction over a very small number of crimes against national security under certain circumstances,” the Legislative Affairs Working Committee said during a three-day meeting in Beijing to brief members of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on the draft law.

These crimes include secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces to harm national security.

However, the agency will be separate from a dedicated unit which the police will establish to deal with national security offences. The NPC also confirmed the setting up of a National Security Committee, which will be headed by the Chief Executive and comprise top government officials and the head of security agencies. A mainland-appointed adviser will also sit on the committee.

There will also be a new department to prosecute such crimes, and the Chief Executive will have to appoint judges across all levels of the judiciary to deal with national security offences.

But the draft also emphasised that the law will not impinge upon the relative freedoms Hong Kongers now enjoy, including a free press, the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly.