Hong Kong must adopt innovative, bottom-line mindset to capitalise on development: John Lee
- City leader says now is ‘best time ever for development’ on fourth anniversary of national security law’s promulgation by Beijing
Hong Kong must adopt an “innovative and bottom-line mentality” if it wishes to capitalise on a prime period for its development, the city’s leader has said, on the fourth anniversary of the national security law’s promulgation by Beijing.
“We need to adopt an innovative and bottom-line mentality and make policies that are tailored to the needs of this particular time and space,” he said in a video shared to his social media accounts.
Central and local authorities made national security a priority following social unrest in 2019, with Beijing imposing the national security law in 2020 and Hong Kong introducing the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in March.
A Hong Kong government spokesman said on Sunday that the Beijing-imposed legislation had restored order among society after a period of chaos, allowing the public and the economy to go back to normality.
“Hong Kong’s rise in world competitiveness rankings to one of the world’s top economies is a good testament to the fact that high-level security protection will underpin high-quality development,” he said.
The spokesman reiterated that the offences in both national security laws were clearly defined and only targeted an extremely small minority of people and organisations, and would not affect law-abiding residents or travellers.
But he said the city must remain vigilant and be prepared to address national security challenges, with authorities vowing to increase their risk awareness and adhere to a bottom-line mentality.
“Given the increasingly complicated geopolitical situation, Hong Kong still faces ever-changing risks to national security,” the spokesman said.
“External forces, people with ulterior motives, and anti-China and destabilising individuals who have absconded overseas continue to smear the situation [in Hong Kong], attempting to interfere in fair trials of the court and undermining Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.”
Security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung said earlier this month that 299 people had been arrested for national security offences since the 2020 law came into force.
He said 175 of them had been prosecuted, of whom 156 had been convicted.
But he declined to provide any further breakdown of the figures, citing the sensitivity of the data.
