Hong Kong moves to strengthen domestic national security law
Subsidiary legislation will be introduced to offer better support to the Beijing office on national security in city, as geopolitical tensions mount
“Having regards to hostile actions taken by some foreign countries against China and Hong Kong, there’s plainly a need to ensure that our national security legal system will be perfected and put in place to address all present and potential national security risks in an effective and proper manner,” Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said after a special Legislative Council meeting on Monday.
The paper said the proposed subsidiary legislation would mandate that any government department or civil servant must provide the Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security with “all necessary and reasonable assistance, facilitation, support, backing and protection in accordance with the law and in a timely manner”.
The administration proposes prohibiting anyone who knows or suspects that the office is handling a case “from disclosing to any other person any information relating to that investigation without reasonable excuse or lawful authority”. The paper stipulates as a matter of principle the obligation to keep confidential the work-related information in connection with the office.