Peacefully advocating Hong Kong independence does not pose threat to national security, law expert says
Law professor at University of Hawaii said government would have to demonstrate action was intended to incite imminent violence
Peaceful advocacy of Hong Kong independence should not be prohibited under a future national security law as it does not pose any threat to the country’s national security, according to an international law expert.
Professor Carole Petersen, a law professor at the University of Hawaii, was among 20 local and international scholars who spoke at a conference on national security held at the University of Hong Kong on Monday.
The city is under renewed pressure to enact its own legislation to prohibit treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the country amid the rise of separatist sentiment.
Given the latest developments, a number of panellists thought the new law would be much harsher than the 2003 version, which was shelved by the administration after half a million Hongkongers took to the streets to condemn the bill which they believed would curb residents’ freedoms.
“If a student posts a banner endorsing peaceful negotiation for Hong Kong independence, does that really pose a genuine threat to the [People’s Republic of China’s] national security? How would it actually interfere with the PRC’s existence as a nation or its capacity to protect its territorial integrity? It simply wouldn’t,” said Petersen, who taught law in Hong Kong from 1989 to 2006.