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Hong Kong's national security law
Hong KongLaw and Crime

Hong Kong courts will make ‘red lines’ on national security clear through decisions on cases, outgoing Law Society president says

  • Chan Chak-ming, to stand down after three terms as Law Society president, adds NGOs better placed to ease overseas fears about national security laws
  • Chan says there is no ‘magic’ to change city’s image overnight, but government and society should work to achieve goal

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Outgoing president of the Law Society Chan Chak-ming says the courts will define national security law red lines with judgments. Photo: Elson Li
Kahon Chan

It will take time for Hong Kong’s courts to draw clear red lines on “complicated” national security legislation through future decisions, the Law Society president has said as he prepares to step down from the prestigious post.

Chan Chak-ming, a three-term president of the city’s biggest lawyers’ group, added that he believed NGOs were more persuasive than government officials in telling the story of national security legislation to overseas audiences.

Chan said in an interview with the Post that he had noticed some residents had a perception that they “couldn’t say anything” under Hong Kong’s two national security laws despite freedom of speech being enshrined in the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

The Beijing-imposed national security law came into force in 2020 and Hong Kong passed domestic legislation in March.
“Because of the national security law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and some of the [high-profile court] cases, people may have the perception that they can’t say anything now,” Chan said.

“They think that even if they criticise the government slightly, they’ll be arrested. And that is obviously not true.

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