Hong Kong should bolster efforts to explain offences in national security proposal, Regina Ip says amid ‘significant concerns’ voiced by EU official about bill

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, a lawmaker and the convenor of the government’s key decision-making Executive Council, on Monday echoed a call made by former city leader Leung Chun-ying to step up communication on the coming legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

“I think the government needs to double down on explaining the nature of the offence of external interference,” Ip said during a session at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. She later said the efforts could include more exchanges with foreign media, chambers of commerce and consular missions.

The Hong Kong government last month launched a 30-day consultation on its plan to enact the Article 23 legislation which would introduce five types of new offences to complement the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.

Among the new offences under the proposal was external interference, which would outlaw acts of using improper means in collaboration with an external force to, among other things, influence the central and local governments in formulating or executing any policy, interfere with the city’s elections or the work of the legislature.

During the question and answer session, Thomas Gnocchi, the head of the EU Office in Hong Kong and Macau, said it had conveyed its “significant concerns” about the legislation to the government and was particularly concerned about the offence of external interference.

Gnocchi asked that panellists comment on “broad definitions” in the area of the specific offence.

Ip conceded that the consultation document did not provide a definition for what an “external force” was, but emphasised that it clearly stated that “the conduct has to be improper” to constitute an offence.