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Hong Kong national security law
OpinionComment
Song Xiaozhuang

Opinion | Why a national security law does not threaten Hong Kong’s autonomy or violate international agreements

  • Hong Kong has more autonomy than US states and strong protections for human rights. The proposed national security law is restricted to four crimes
  • It is not the first regulation governing the relationship between Hong Kong and China to be listed in Annex III of the Basic Law

Reading Time:4 minutes
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People attend a flag-raising ceremony at Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong on October 1, 2012. Twenty-three years after the handover of sovereignty from Britain to China, Hong Kong’s legislature has not enacted a national security law as required under Article 23 of the Basic Law. Photo: Sam Tsang
Song Xiaozhuang
The purpose of “one country, two systems”, as clarified in the preamble to the Basic Law, is “upholding national unity and territorial integrity, maintaining the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong”. Any threat to this would compel Beijing to act, especially if both aims have recently been jeopardised by riots which the central government is convinced were supported by foreign agencies.
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The National People’s Congress decision to enact national security legislation for Hong Kong will safeguard Hong Kong and China from separatist, subversive and terrorist activities, and foreign intervention.

European Union representatives and the foreign ministries of the UK, Australia and Canada criticised the NPC’s move, arguing that Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy would diminish, violating the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong residents’ rights and freedoms would be harmed, and that bypassing the local legislature cannot be justified. These claims are misleading.

The enactment of the national security law in no way violates Hong Kong’s “high degree of autonomy”. Though the Joint Declaration sets out the basic principles of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty, it also made clear that policies governing the city would be stipulated in a Basic Law by the NPC. As there is no mention of a national security law in the Joint Declaration, enacting one now could not be said to violate it.

02:33

China’s top legislature approves national security bill for Hong Kong

China’s top legislature approves national security bill for Hong Kong

Although Article 23 requires Hong Kong to enact laws “on its own” to prohibit seven crimes, the article is situated in Chapter II of the Basic Law titled “Relationship between the central authorities and the Hong Kong special administrative region”. Thus, describing Article 23 as a provision related to regional autonomy is a misnomer.

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