No timetable on national security law, Hong Kong leader insists, but officials working to create ‘favourable conditions’

Carrie Lam dismisses speculation government aims to pass legislation next year, saying confidence in central and local governments is needed

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Under Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the city’s de facto constitution, the government must enact legislation against treason, secession, sedition or subversion. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:10pm, 17 Apr 2018Updated: 8:04pm, 17 Apr 2018

Hong Kong’s leader on Tuesday said the city was still not ready for national security legislation, even though Beijing officials have recently been ramping up reminders that laws against offences such as treason and sedition are overdue to tackle independence advocacy.

“It is our constitutional duty to enact the law … so we have to do it, with or without any pressure,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said, while denying that she was being pushed to act. “But we do not have a timetable for enacting the legislation yet … I stand by what I said in my policy address – yes, it is our duty to do this work, but the time is not yet right.”

Lam said her administration had been working hard to create “favourable conditions” to do so, speaking for the first time on the issue after attending a symposium on Sunday at which the director of the Beijing’s liaison office in the city, Wang Zhimin, hit out at local activists he said had challenged China’s sovereignty over Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is ‘only place in the world without national security law’, liaison office chief says

Wang’s words were widely interpreted as a call for Lam to enact the legislation before her current term ends in 2022.

Under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the government must pass legislation against treason, secession, sedition or subversion. However, activists fear such a law would be used to curtail freedoms.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor speaks before an Executive Council meeting on Tuesday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Asked to comment on media reports suggesting she would aim to pass the law next year, Lam said: “The reference to next year is total speculation … I do not have the full [information] yet on whether [the right environment] will emerge next year.”

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No timetable on national security law, Hong Kong leader insists, but officials working to create ‘favourable conditions’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Carrie Lam dismisses speculation government aims to pass legislation next year, saying confidence in central and local governments is needed

Hong Kong is ‘only place in the world without national security law’, liaison office chief says

Carrie Lam dismisses speculation government aims to pass legislation next year, saying confidence in central and local governments is needed