- Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu says the new regulations will ‘tell people not to attack us’
- Announcement comes amid escalating geopolitical tensions between China and the West; last bid in 2003 sparked strong public opposition, forcing the bill’s withdrawal.
(From left) Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung attend a press conference on the public consultation of Article 23. Photo: Sam TsangHong Kong’s chief executive unveiled plans on Tuesday to enact sweeping domestic national security legislation targeting treason, insurrection, sabotage, foreign interference, theft of state secrets and espionage, promoting it as a “defensive law” to ward off attacks against the city amid escalating geopolitical tensions between China and the West.
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu underscored the external and internal national security threats facing the city as he launched a 30-day consultation exercise to gather public feedback on the legislation, which Hong Kong is duty bound to enact under Article 23 of its mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
“The new law aims to create a stable and safe environment so that when people attack us, we will be protected. This is a law to tell people not to attack us. It is, in a way, a defensive law,” Lee said.
“I hope people will see the law and know that they may try somewhere else rather than Hong Kong.”
Officials said law-abiding citizens would have nothing to fear, while they would be open to further discussing any need for exemptions based on public feedback.
It will be the city’s second attempt to enact the contentious legislation after the government’s last bid in 2003 sparked strong public opposition, forcing the bill’s withdrawal.
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While the consultation period this time is significantly shorter than the three months offered in the failed attempt more than two decades ago, the new Article 23 bill is expected to meet far less resistance.
Beijing has transformed the city’s political landscape after the anti-government protest chaos of 2019 to ensure that only those deemed as “patriots” are allowed to hold public office or join the legislature.
Hong Kong is constitutionally obliged to enact its own legislation banning seven types of national security offences, which would supplement the national security law imposed on the city by Beijing in 2020 to prohibit acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
According to the legislative framework of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance spanning nine chapters, authorities will plug the remaining loopholes by amending several existing laws to expand their coverage and drawing up new ones for five offences: treason; insurrection; theft of state secrets and espionage; sabotage; and external interference. Authorities cited similar legislation in Britain and Canada as references.
To tackle treason, the government has proposed amending the Crimes Ordinance while codifying the existing offence of “misprision of treason” under common law.
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The consultation paper repeatedly references the months-long social unrest in 2019 to justify the need for the new legislation.
It proposes raising the penalties for the current offences of “seditious intention” and “possession of seditious publication” while naming “insurrection” as a new offence to deal with acts of serious civil disobedience within the country.
“The large-scale violence that occurred during the ‘black-clad violence’ in 2019 did endanger the public safety of the [city] as a whole and posed threats to national security,” the paper reads.
“But dealing with them by the offence of ‘riot’ under the Public Order Ordinance fails to adequately reflect, both in terms of criminality or the level of penalty, the nature of such violence in endangering national security.” Rioting carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.
Similarly citing the vandalism and transport disruption seen during the 2019 protests, new offences listed in the bill will cover acts of sabotage or impairment of public infrastructure, as well as the unauthorised use of computer or electronic systems, with intent to endanger national security.
The Official Secrets Ordinance will be updated to cover seven types of “secrets”, including information about major policy decisions on national and local affairs, the economic, social, technological or scientific development of the country or city, and external affairs of Hong Kong and its relationship with Beijing.
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The paper recommends introducing a new espionage offence to ban anyone from participating in, backing or receiving advantages from external intelligence organisations.
It also proposes a new external interference offence to target several acts, such as influencing the central and local governments in formulating or executing any policy, and interfering with the city’s elections and the work of the legislature in collaboration with outside forces.
The consultation paper recommends empowering the government to prohibit the operation of certain organisations on the grounds of safeguarding national security as well.
The domestic legislation would grant authorities “proportional” extraterritorial powers for some of the unspecified offences to target acts carried out by “ill-intentioned people outside the territory”, but Lee made it clear on Tuesday that defendants would not be sent to mainland China for trial, contrasting with the national security law which carries such a clause.
Authorities also spelled out plans to plug what they called inadequacies in handling national security cases currently, such as extending the detention period of arrestees to allow more time for police investigation, rolling out measures to stop absconders, and tightening the threshold for the early release of prisoners convicted of national security offences.
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Lee insisted the one-month consultation period was “suitable” given the document had elaborated the legislative framework in detail.
He added that he, along with justice minister Paul Lam Ting-kwok and security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung, would further explain the new legislation to foreign diplomats and business chambers in the city. Town hall-style sessions would also be held to gauge public views, he promised.
“Surely, [foreign] organisations or enterprises will not like to operate in an area which is a war zone, or where there are conflicts. No businessmen want to see their investment and business disrupted or destroyed by violence or in a war zone,” Lee said.
The city’s leader said a backlash from China’s critics was to be expected, as he accused some countries of having “bad motives” and wanting to see Hong Kong defenceless.
“They will try to make your law weak so that they can find loopholes to attack,” he said.
“Bad-mouthing and political attacks will continue. That is exactly why I want the government to be up and in full gear to explain what we are doing here, loud and clear, confidently and rightly, to tell the world we are just protecting ourselves from your attacks. Don’t attack us.”