Anti-sanctions law will be wielded with care, Hong Kong justice minister vows

Fresh off her four-day visit to Beijing, Teresa Cheng offers assurances the law will only be used to counter unreasonable sanctions on the city and country

She refuses to say whether the national law will be inserted into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, and dismisses concerns doing so would amount to a trend

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Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng meets the press on Tuesday after her trip to Beijing. Photo: May Tse

Published: 7:00am, 4 Aug 2021Updated: 7:00am, 4 Aug 2021

Hong Kong’s justice minister has sought to ease anxiety over the implications for financial institutions when the city adopts Beijing’s anti-sanctions law, saying the legislation will be used only in retaliation for punitive actions taken by foreign governments.

In an interview with the Post and other media on Tuesday following her recent trip to the Chinese capital, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah said: “I know some of us may be very concerned. But I think we shouldn’t be too worried for now.”

Having discussed the issue with mainland Chinese “legal minds” during her four-day trip, Cheng stressed that the law would be strictly retaliatory in nature as a counter to unreasonable sanctions imposed on the city and the country by foreign governments.

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China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, is set to meet in mid-August to decide the adoption of Beijing’s legislation by Hong Kong on a local level.

Sources have said this will be done by inserting relevant provisions into the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, but Cheng said it was “too early” for such specifics.

However, she defended the central government’s right to take such a step if necessary, shrugging off worries that it might become a “trend” after Beijing introduced the city’s national security law in the same manner last year.

“I think it’s absolutely wrong to use that word. The Basic Law, when read as a whole, permits the national law to be put into annex III when it is foreign affairs, national security or matters that are not within the autonomy of Hong Kong,” she said.