HK must have tough new security laws: top official
China’s top official in Hong Kong has said national security laws that would severely limit freedoms in the territory must be introduced as soon as possible.
In a video address Luo Huining, 65, cited months of antigovernment protests for the need to pass legislation under Article
23 of the Basic Law, the semiautonomous region’s constitution. The article allows for the enacting of laws to prohibit acts of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the government or theft of state secrets.
Attempts to bring in such legislation in 2003 led to a
500,000-strong protest and the resignation of Tung Chee-hwa, the first chief executive. Macau introduced national security laws in
2009.
‘‘We must make efforts on the levels of legislations and execution to safeguard national security,’’ Luo said. ‘‘What should be made will be made. What should be revised will be revised. By no means will we allow Hong Kong to become a risk to national security.
‘‘If the anthill eroding the rule of law is not cleared, the dam of national security will be destroyed and the wellbeing of all Hong Kong residents will be damaged. We must have zero tolerance against any act that endangers the fundamentals of Hong Kong’s rule of law.’’
The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ arrangement, which allowed residents to enjoy more civil rights such as free speech and independent courts, which are denied to the people on the mainland. The Chinese government keeps tight controls over how the territory’s chief executive and MPs are elected.
In Hong Kong last June, antigovernment protests erupted over a separate extradition bill that would have sent suspects to the mainland to face trial. China, which fears that a fight for democracy among Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents could spread to the mainland, ordered the territory’s police force to crack down on the demonstrations. The extradition bill was abandoned.
Luo was appointed head of China’s political office in the territory in January. His suggestion that the laws could be brought in drew condemnation from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy MPs.
One, Jeremy Tam, said: ‘‘The only thing Hong Kong people see is that you are destroying Hong Kong’s rule of law and freedom, which should have ranked high in the world but you are making the whole world lose confidence in Hong Kong and hurting its economy.’’
Suggestions that the territory’s rule of law was being challenged were echoed by senior lawyers, who yesterday claimed that the independent judiciary, the cornerstone of the city’s broad freedoms enjoyed since handover, was in a ‘‘fight for its survival’’. Three of the territory’s most senior judges told Reuters that Beijing had launched an effort to hamper the courts, pressuring them to hand down severe punishments to protesters. – The Times