China to expedite HK’s security law passage

China’s top legislature would speed up formulating the national security law for Hong Kong, a senior official from the legislature said.

Yue Zhongming, spokesman for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, made the remarks on Tuesday, ahead of the 19th session of the Standing Committee of the 13th NPC on Thursday and Friday.

In accordance to the NPC Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to Safeguard National Security, speeding up the formulation of related Hong Kong national security laws had been added to the NPC Standing Committee’s 2020 work plan, Yue said.

Since the NPC voted to pass a draft decision on establishing the law on May 28, central authorities have held at least five forums to solicit public opinions from Hong Kong society.

Given the frequent meetings, the process of drafting is expected to accelerate further, Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, deputy secretary general of the Hong Kong Coalition, told the GlobalTimes previously.

He believes that the law is likely to be enacted within a month.

Improving legislation on public health had also been part of the NPC Standing Committee’s 2020 work plan, including revising the Wildlife Protection Law, the Frontier Health and Quarantine Law, the Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases and the Emergency Response Law, Yue said.