Under national security law, Hongkongers free to call for an end to 'Communist Party's dictatorship': Elsie Leung

Hongkongers would be free to call for an end to "the Communist Party's dictatorship" or write in support of independence for the city if a national security law were introduced in Hong Kong, a former justice secretary said yesterday.

Elsie Leung Oi-sie, now vice-chairwoman of the Basic Law Committee for the National People's Congress, was responding to questions about a new draft of the country's national security law released by Beijing last week.

In that draft, Beijing for the first time highlights Hong Kong's obligations on national security, raising the prospect of renewed pressure on the city to get moving on local legislation to ban acts of "treason, secession, sedition or subversion", as stipulated under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

University of Hong Kong constitutional law expert Professor Michael Davis said the mainland law could not be applied in the city unless it was added to the Basic Law's Annex III.

And, speaking on a TVB interview yesterday, Leung said Beijing would ask for the Hong Kong government's consent if it wanted to add a new law to Annex III, but neither she nor local ministers had heard of any such plans.

Leung said if the mainland law were to be added to the annex, Hong Kong would then need to come up with its own national security law.