Diluted bill still angers critics

Senior officials promised that the unveiling of a bill on new national security laws would, in one stroke, put an end to most of the public's concerns about the threat the laws may pose to Hong Kong's freedoms.

But while the business community seems to have drawn some comfort from the bill, due to receive its first reading in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, critics in the legal community remain unconvinced.

After years of waiting and wondering what Article 23 of the Basic Law would bring, the reaction to the bill, when it was finally produced little more than a week ago, appeared something of an anti-climax. But the rumblings of discontent heard in the days since its publication are only the beginning. Lawyers and academics are taking time to study the complex provisions to see whether there are any devils lurking in the details.

'Even with the original , it took people a bit of time to absorb what was actually being proposed. Once it sank in, the opposition started and then grew. I think it will be the same with the blue bill,' former Bar Association chairman Gladys Li SC said.

No doubt the government's publicity machine, which has adopted a softer line in recent weeks, will step up several gears as the bill's passage through the Legislative Council approaches. Hours after it was released, Solicitor-General Robert Allcock was trying to assure the foreign media it would not have to fear for its liberty once the legislation was in place.

Would it be a crime, he was asked, to write an article encouraging students to march on Tiananmen Square to demand a change of government? What about publishing a column supporting the efforts of Taiwan to defend itself in the face of a PLA attack? According to Mr Allcock, neither of these scenarios would amount to a crime.