National security law for Hong Kong ‘not retroactive’, but can it be compatible with mainland Chinese legislation?
- Comments by Beijing officials spark more concerns over how impending regulation would work
- Critics warn there is no way in which city’s common law system can be aligned with national laws
But while they took pains to explain the similarities and differences between the legal systems on either side of the border, they also sparked further concerns by suggesting the new legislation should be compatible with national laws applied in mainland China.
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Hong Kong’s national security law is like ‘anti-virus software’, top Beijing official says
“Principles guiding the criminal law system on the mainland are not very different from those in Hong Kong, including proportionality between offences and penalties, non-retrospectivity, procedural justice, presumption of innocence, and the suspects and defendants’ rights of defence,” Deng Zhonghua, deputy director of the cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told a seminar in Shenzhen on Monday.
“All these principles could be stipulated in this legislation.”
Huge differences exist in legal principles and spirit. [Beijing] can’t simply parrot the mainland law and say it’s compatible with the Hong Kong legal system
Deng was the first Beijing official to spell out the principles for implementing the new legislation, which would outlaw acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in Hong Kong.
