Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Wednesday (January 12) that the Hong Kong SAR government has made every effort to promote local legislation on national security in Article 23 of the Basic Law, and strives to put forward a broad legislative framework for "social discussion" by June.
Hong Kong's new Legislative Council, formed by "patriots" under the control of the CCP, held its first meeting and a question-and-answer session with the chief executive on Wednesday. During the question-and-answer period, Yip Liu Shuyi, a pro-China congressman who had unsuccessfully pushed for Article 23 legislation after Hong Kong's sovereignty was handed over to China in 1997, asked when the government could submit the draft of Article 23 of the Basic Law.
Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor responded that the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law is a constitutional function of the SAR government and cannot be delayed any longer. The authorities had earlier proposed to put forward a broad framework of legislation for public discussion before June under the current government. However, she personally thinks that it will be difficult to pass the regulations in the third reading under the current government.
Lin Zhengyue also said that the 23 laws must be well established to ensure their effectiveness. Just like the central government enacted a national security law for the SAR, its early role was to stop violence and chaos, and now it is a stabilizing needle. In the future, executive officers may have formal or informal discussions with the Legislative Council Panel on Security. She also said that the Secretary for Security also made reference to foreign experiences and practices when formulating relevant laws.
The Guardian reported that Carrie Lam did not elaborate on which "crimes" would be listed in the 23 articles of local legislation. Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law clearly lists several major crimes such as "treason," "separatism," "sedition," and "theft of state secrets."
Article 23 of the Basic Law also prohibits foreign political organizations from engaging in political activities in Hong Kong or having any relationship with local political groups in Hong Kong.
After more than half a year of protests for democracy broke out in Hong Kong in June 2019, Beijing forced the implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong at the end of June 2020, listing splitting the country, colluding with foreign forces, subverting the regime and Terrorism and other broad-based criminal acts. Both Beijing and Carrie Lam say the national security law is necessary because Hong Kong has long been unable to pass a local law on national security under Article 23 of the Basic Law.
After the National Security Law came into effect, the Hong Kong government used this law to persecute pro-democracy factions and dissidents. So far, more than 150 pro-democracy activists and journalists have been arrested and prosecuted. A large number of Hong Kong residents were forced to leave Hong Kong.
Agence France-Presse reported that the CCP’s forced national security law in Hong Kong has completely overturned the principle of one country, two systems in Hong Kong, turning Hong Kong into a place like mainland China under an authoritarian system. Many Western countries have imposed extensive sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland China.
The Basic Law has been called the "mini-constitution" of Hong Kong after sovereignty was handed over to China in 1997. Article 23 stipulates that Hong Kong should enact its own legislation "to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion of the Central People's Government and theft of state secrets".
In 2003, the Hong Kong government proposed a bill to legislate on this provision. The then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa proposed to amend various provisions in Hong Kong law, adding provisions to criminalize acts such as overthrowing the Chinese government, treason, and stealing official secrets, and to set corresponding penalties to comply with Article 23 of the Basic Law. But the legislative process caused great controversy.
The "Civilian Human Rights Front" in Hong Kong, which had been forced to disband under the strong pressure of the National Security Law, launched a march on July 1, 2003 with the theme of "Opposing Article 23 Legislation". About 500,000 citizens participated, which was the largest protest after the handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty. procession.
Many discussions in the society at that time were mainly concerned that the Legislative Council would damage the freedom of speech of Hong Kong citizens. They believed that the Legislative Council would introduce the concept of "national security" in mainland China into Hong Kong, and the government could use this law at will to ban any non-governmental organization. In the end, the then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa announced the withdrawal of the draft.