‘Law to stop abuse of China’s national anthem would extend to Hong Kong ... but in revised form’
Elsie Leung, a top adviser to Beijing on city’s mini-constitution, says people have nothing to fear and that local lawmakers can vet any proposed bill
Any legislation adopted on mainland China to punish abusers of the national anthem will be applied to Hong Kong but local lawmakers have the right to vet and shape it to the city’s context, according to an adviser to Beijing on the city’s mini-constitution.
Elsie Leung Oi-sie, chairwoman of the Basic Law Committee under the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, said on Tuesday that if the recently proposed law was passed, it would unlikely extend to Hong Kong as it stood.
Under the “one country, two systems” formula that guarantees Hong Kong’s freedoms, for a national law to take effect locally it has to be inserted to annex III of the Basic Law.
“There are two ways to enact the laws in annex III. If it is a simple matter, [the law] will be promulgated, like how the law on the national flag took effect after 1 July 1997,” she said when interviewed by former Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau Wai-hing.
For more complicated matters, Hong Kong could make a local law rather than importing the whole bill automatically, she said.