Lam to visit Beijing, prepare for natl security legislation

The chief executive of Hong Kong and senior officials who are in charge of law enforcement, public security and justice will visit Beijing on Wednesday, and analysts in the Chinese mainland said that coming only five days after the NPC passed a decision on national security legislation for the city, this move shows that China wants to push the legislation as soon as possible.

The central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will be prepared for any challenge, they said.

HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam will pay a one-day visit to Beijing on Wednesday, as the central government needs to hear advice and suggestions from the HKSAR government about the proposed national security law.

Li Xiaobing, a Hong Kong affairs expert and legal expert at Nankai University in Tianjin, said that this is a necessary move as the national security legislation for Hong Kong should be finalized as soon as possible.

These officials related to law enforcement, public security and justice must provide their suggestions and advice to help the central government make the law executable under Hong Kong’s common law legal system, as this law will directly affect and change their work.

Apart from the HKSAR officials, the central government might also want to communicate with legal professionals. However, legal professional organizations always maintain a sentiment of resistance against the central government and the national legislature, and they use their legal professional knowledge to create obstacles for mainland’s governance in the HKSAR, Li said.

“If they would like to make constructive suggestions, they would be welcome, but according to empirical evidence, they are very unlikely to do so as they have complicated connections with foreign forces,” Li noted.

Analysts said that advice and opinions from business circles and the financial sector could also be important, because Hong Kong, as an international trading and financial center, has frequent and broad communications and exchanges with other countries and regions.

Yin Hongbiao, an expert on Hong Kong affairs at Peking University, said that the meeting could also cover the most urgent situation: Opposition groups and anti-government forces are planning a series of protests and illegal assemblies from this week to at least July 1.

Cnsphoto Photo: The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced on Tuesday that the “gathering restriction order” on food and beverage premises, which prohibits gatherings of more than eight people in public places, will be extended to June 18. Various measures have been taken to avoid the spread of COVID-19 in the community in response to the epidemic.