A top official in Hong Kong has said the city has a “great responsibility” to implement a controversial national security law demanded by Beijing in comments that risk inflaming anti-government unrest in the Asian financial hub.
The statement from chief secretary Matthew Cheung, the deputy to Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, comes a day after Luo Huining, Beijing’s newly appointed chief representative, made a similar call for the so-called anti-subversion law.
“National security is very important. Hong Kong has a great responsibility in this regard,” Mr Cheung said.
The Hong Kong government first tried to introduce the national security legislation mandated by Article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini constitution, the Basic Law, in 2003 but was forced to abandon it after 500,000 people marched in opposition.
That was the largest protest in Hong Kong post its handover from Britain to China in 1997 until last year, when millions marched against an extradition bill to allow people in the territory to be sent to the mainland for trial.
Mr Cheung said Ms Lam had already made it clear that she would create a “suitable social atmosphere and environment” for the implementation of Article 23, which bars secession and subversion against Beijing.
The comments by Mr Luo, the head of the Liaison Office, which were published in the People’s Daily on Monday, were the first public indication of his stance on the territory since his appointment earlier this month.
“If national security systems and mechanisms are absent in the long term, then external forces will be able to infiltrate and destroy [Hong Kong] without fear,” Mr Luo said in the People’s Daily commentary.
Mr Luo’s comments echo calls made in November last year by Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, a division of the China’s State Council that oversees the two former colonies. He said the Hong Kong government’s failure to implement the anti-subversion law was one of the main reasons behind the protests and said it was an “urgent task” to strengthen security laws.
However, any attempt to revive the legislation could risk stoking the anti-government protests that have hit the territory over past nine months.
“Beijing is getting less patient with Hong Kong’s resistance,” said Dixon Ming Sing, a political-science professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “In the context of the Hong Kong people’s very strong aspirations for freedom, it is very likely that any future serious steps by him or by Beijing will stoke the protests.”
Demonstrations against the extradition bill, which has been formally withdrawn, picked up pace in June, with protesters expanding their demands to include calls for the right to elect the city’s leader.
Protesters and police clashed again on Sunday after a largely peaceful few weeks, as police fired tear gas and forced an early end to a rally in the city’s financial district.
Mr Luo, the former boss of northern province Shanxi was parachuted into the role, marking the first time anyone without direct experience of Hong Kong was appointed to the top Communist party position in the territory.
Business - Latest - Google News
January 21, 2020 at 06:57PM
https://ift.tt/2Gey2fi
Top Hong Kong official backs call for controversial security law - Financial Times
Business - Latest - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Rx7A4Y
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Top Hong Kong official backs call for controversial security law - Financial Times"
Post a Comment