Mainland 'no model for sedition law'

A law professor has warned the government against modelling any Article 23 legislation on existing mainland laws on sedition, arguing it would defeat the spirit of what was intended by Basic Law drafters.

In the latest issue of Hong Kong Lawyer, City University associate professor of law Zhu Guobin quoted remarks by former Communist Party chairman Deng Xiaoping from 1987.

Deng said: 'We shall still allow people to criticise the PRC or its Communist Party, but what if such criticism were transformed to some kind of action and there were attempts to convert Hong Kong into an anti-PRC base wearing the label of 'democracy'?'

Professor Zhu said such comments to the drafters of the Basic Law should be used as guiding principles in legislating on sedition, subversion and treason as required by Article 23.

'It would be unfeasible and harmful to include in Hong Kong law any offence based solely on speeches or comments. The elements of flexibility and arbitrariness under the PRC laws are to be weeded out - not embraced.'

Professor Zhu, an expert on the Chinese legal system and comparative constitutional law, said it was important for the SAR to adopt stricter definitions of terms such as 'state secrets' than those in mainland law.

'One should avoid the situation where the government determines whether a document is a state secret only after that document is stolen, since the determination may be arbitrary and may lack legal basis,' he wrote.