Planned changes to the Official Secrets Ordinance would keep a lot of political and economic information under wraps
Proposed amendments to the Official Secrets Ordinance would lead to a culture of secrecy in commercial, economic and political spheres, a law professor has warned.
Had such measures been in force at the time, the memoirs of public figures such as former governor Chris Patten and Chung Sze-yuen would have broken the law, said Johannes Chan Man-mun, dean of the law faculty at the University of Hong Kong.
In a research paper about to be published, Professor Chan writes that the 'complicated and ambiguous law' on official secrets which the amendments would create would lead to self-censorship, a lack of transparency and a climate of secrecy among public servants and government contractors.
As part of the process to enact national security laws based on Article 23 of the Basic Law, the government has proposed amending the Official Secrets Ordinance to make it an offence to disclose information about Hong Kong's relations with the 'central authorities'.
Professor Chan says this category of information includes, as well as the appointment of the chief executive and principal officials:
