Hong Kong government should take two years before starting controversial national security legislation, says former minister
Raymond Tam said the whole process could take three to four years
The former minister in charge of mainland affairs in Hong Kong has said the city’s government should kick start the process of national security legislation by July 2019, at the earliest.
Raymond Tam Chi-yuen formally joined the race for one of 36 local deputy seats in China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, on Thursday.
Tam added to the calls by incumbent deputies, including Cheng Yiu-tong and Stanley Ng Chau-pei, that the government should push to enact Article 23 legislation within the next five years.
Tam said the whole process – from consultation to voting in Legco – could last three to four years and he didn’t anticipate Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to complete the work within her five-year term.
‘Pass national security law and Beijing will be more confident granting Hong Kong democracy’
“The government wants to get a lot done,” he said, adding the government could spend its first two years focusing on livelihood and economic issues.
A move to pass national security legislation was shelved in 2003 after half a million people protested, fearing for their liberties. The debate was reignited by Li Fei, a senior Beijing official who specialises in Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, a few weeks earlier. Li said Hong Kong was paying the price for the delay, with independence advocates exploiting the lack of a national security law.