CHINA-SECURITY/UPDATE China says sweeping national security law not to be directly adopted in Hong Kong

Record ID: 148792

  • Title: CHINA-SECURITY/UPDATE China says sweeping national security law not to be directly adopted in Hong Kong
  • Date: 1st July 2015
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 1, 2015) (REUTERS) NATIONAL PEOPLES' CONGRESS STANDING COMMITTEE NEWS DEPARTMENT HEAD, ZHONG XUEQUAN (L), VICE-SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL PEOPLES' CONGRESS STANDING COMMITTEE, HAN XIAOWU (C), VICE-CHAIRPERSON OF THE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS COMMISSION OF THE NATIONAL PEOPLES' CONGRESS STANDING COMMITTEE, ZHENG SHUNA (R), SITTING DOWN FOR BRIEFING JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7Q1FKDGYD1EGZRQOBMJL1QF18
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: China said on Wednesday (July 1) that a new sweeping national security law covering everything from territorial sovereignty to measures to tighten cyber security would not be directly adopted in Hong Kong.
    The law, passed on Wednesday by the standing committee of the National People's Congress, has raised fear amongst foreign business groups and diplomats who say they are concerned by its broad nature and its vague wording.
    Critics have argued that the extensive nature of the law, which covers everything from China's deep sea and space assets to "harmful cultural influences", constitutes national security overreach.
    Some pro-Beijing politicians and left-leaning newspapers in Hong Kong had called for the national security laws to be implemented in Hong Kong after last year's pro-democracy civil disobedience campaign.
    Zheng Shuna, vice chairwoman of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC standing committee, confirmed that the law would not be implemented in either Hong Kong or Macau.
    "In accordance with the rules set out in the two basic laws (for Hong Kong and Macau), national laws that are not added to the appendix three of the basic law will not be implemented in the the two Special Administrative Regions. The national security law that we have passed today has not been included in appendix three of the basic law, I want to make that clear here," she told journalists at a briefing.
    The basic law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, enshrines the principle of "one country, two systems" to govern capitalist Hong Kong after the former British colony was returned to Communist Chinese rule in 1997.
    Under the Basic Law, Hong Kong is promised "a high degree of autonomy" as well as "executive, legislative and independent judicial power."
    Wednesday's law does stipulate that Hong Kong has a responsibility to maintain China's territorial integrity and that Hong Kong has a responsibility to safeguard national security, but Zheng said that these were more demands "in principle" and not to be directly implemented.
    "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macau Special Administrative Region should carry out their responsibility to protect the country's safety. These two rules, as I just mentioned, the constitution and the basic law both show that there are rules governing the responsibility for protecting national security, these two rules are like a pledge or a principle that we demand of our Hong Kong and Macau compatriots in the Special Administrative zones," she said.
    Article 23 of the Basic Law states that Hong Kong should enact its own security law to "prohibit any acts of treason, secession, sedition, subversion" against the Chinese government.
    A previous attempt to push through "Article 23" security laws in 2003 led to mass protests against what many in Hong Kong saw as a grave threat to their autonomy, and the laws were eventually shelved.
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