Occupy Central threatens ‘Hong Kong security’, Beijing advisers warn
Two mainland academics who advise Beijing on Hong Kong affairs have warned that Occupy Central protests have threatened “Hong Kong security”, which is a crucial determinant of national security.
Two mainland academics who advise Beijing on Hong Kong affairs have warned that Occupy Central protests have threatened “Hong Kong security”, which is a crucial determinant of national security.
The new jargon was invented by Huang Ping, vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, and Chen Xinxin, a legal affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an article published in the latest issue of the .
The association, chaired by former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Chen Zuoer, is a high-level think tank set up by the central government last year to study Hong Kong affairs, including the Basic Law and political reform.
In the article entitled “The Unlawful Nature of the Occupy Central campaign in Hong Kong”, Huang and Chen said the protests, which have paralysed parts of the city for six weeks, had upset social order and undermined the foundation of the rule of law.
“It also has some elements of a ‘colour revolution’ and has already threatened ‘Hong Kong security’,” the two academics wrote.
The Occupy movement was labelled by Vice-Premier Wang Yang last month as a “colour revolution”, a reference to uprisings in post-Soviet states.
“Hong Kong security is a crucial determinant of national security of China, which is Hong Kong’s sovereign country,” they wrote.
The academics argued that the Basic Law had put forward the concept of “security of the Hong Kong special administrative region”.
They cited Article 18 of the Basic Law. It states that the central government may issue an order applying the relevant national laws in Hong Kong in the event that the National People’s Congress Standing Committee decides to declare a state of war.
Article 18 also states that the central government can apply national laws in the city if it decides there is a state of emergency caused by turmoil within Hong Kong which endangers national unity or security and is beyond the control of the special administrative region government.
“It shows the drafters of the Basic Law expected the chief executive to put Hong Kong security as the most important consideration in discharging his or her duty,” the academics wrote. “The chief executive and Hong Kong police must take into account this concept when they tackle unlawful occupation activities.”
Political commentator Johnny Lau Yui-siu, who covered the drafting process of the Basic Law in the 1980s as a journalist, said that compared with constitutional development, the concept of national security, let alone “Hong Kong security”, was not the focus of discussion among drafters at the time.
“The two academics simply invented a new term to serve the political needs of targeting Occupy Central,” he said.
Lau said there was no need to panic about the idea of “Hong Kong security” floated by the academics. “I understand that Beijing won’t send the People’s Liberation Army to the streets in Hong Kong unless there is serious looting and disturbances,” he said.
