Explainer | National security: what is Article 23 in Hong Kong and why is the issue back in the spotlight?

Basic Law provision requiring Hong Kong to bring in legislation protecting Beijing from subversive, treacherous acts is back on the political agenda

What concerns are being raised about an Article 23 bill this time around? Any why does Beijing demand its introduction after imposing its own security law on the city?

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Hong Kong is obliged under the Basic Law to bring forward legislation that protects the central government against treason, subversion and other offences. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:00pm, 28 Jun 2021Updated: 12:00pm, 28 Jun 2021

Shelved for 18 years, Article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution to safeguard national security returned to make headlines as newly minted ministers talked about it last week.

So why is Beijing, which imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, still insisting the city enact its own legislation and what are the concerns raised this time?

What is Article 23 and why was it once a political taboo in Hong Kong?

Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, requires Hong Kong to enact laws “on its own” to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the central government, or theft of state secrets, as well as to ban foreign political organisations or bodies from conducting political activities in the city and local political organisations or bodies from establishing ties with foreign political organisations or bodies.

The Hong Kong government has to date only made one attempt since the city’s handover in 1997 to legislate Article 23, and in vain.

In 2003, then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa was forced to shelve the unpopular bill after more than 500,000 people, who feared their rights and freedoms would be curbed, took to the streets on July 1, the handover anniversary marking the city’s return to Chinese rule. The political crisis dealt a heavy blow to the administration’s governance.