Full draft of Hong Kong national security law will only be made public after it is passed by China’s top legislative body
- Sources say Beijing will rely on officials to explain details and hold discussions in Hong Kong with various sectors
- Legislation is effectively a done deal and expected to be passed on June 30, on eve of city’s handover anniversary
The controversial legislation is effectively a done deal, with the National People’s Congress Standing Committee meeting for three days beginning on Sunday, and expected to pass it by June 30, the eve of the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule.
While opposition politicians, critics and legal experts warned a raft of unanswered questions had left Hongkongers fearful that the city’s autonomy and rule of law would be undermined, several sources told the South China Morning Post that the full draft of the law would not be made public until after its passage.
Beijing is determined to endorse the law as soon as possible
“Beijing is determined to endorse the law as soon as possible. It wants to slash the time for public discussion to reduce the dissenting voices regarding the law,” a source familiar with the central government’s line of thinking said.
Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the standing committee, said he had not heard about any plan for full details of the law to be released before its passage. Admitting it was an unusual arrangement, as some national laws would be subject to a 30-day consultation period, he said the decision was up to the head of the apex legislative body.
“We had to return the draft after the meeting. I don’t have the draft with me either,” Tam said, revealing how Beijing was keeping a tight lid on information.
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Several rounds of discussions are expected between state officials and sectors in Hong Kong over the coming week. Zhang Yong, vice-chairman of the Basic Law Committee, as well as deputy directors of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) Zhang Xiaoming and Song Zhe, among other officials, will meet stakeholders, including members of the committee on the city’s mini-constitution starting from Tuesday.
A Basic Law Committee meeting to discuss the addition of the national security law into an annex of the mini-constitution would be a prerequisite for the legislation to come into effect in the city.
The new law will target crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign and external influences to threaten national security. While Hong Kong itself will enforce the law, a mainland commissioner’s office will also be set up in the city to supervise and guide the local government.
It remains unclear what the exact penalties are and what kind of cases the central government will exercise jurisdiction over, an issue that is causing particular concern in the city, even though Beijing has stressed repeatedly that it will be a very limited number.
On Monday, Legislative Council president Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen said he had met the director of the cabinet-level HKMAO, Xia Baolong, in neighbouring Shenzhen over the weekend to pass on views from various lawmakers about the national security law.
While opposition politicians urged Leung to disclose exactly what was said at their closed-door meeting, as Leung was representing Hong Kong’s legislature, sources said more such sessions would be held in the city in the coming days.
A core member of a local think tank said he was invited to join a session at the liaison office on Tuesday afternoon where mainland officials would canvass their views on the national security law.
They just listen, but they don’t consult anyway
Liaison office deputy director Tan Tieniu met representatives from the education and religious sectors on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
A source who attended the Sunday meeting said they had been assured they could continue to have exchanges with overseas groups. “But of course you cannot say one thing and do another,” the source said, adding that advocacy for Hong Kong independence was a red line that should not be crossed.
Pro-democracy parties were not on the guest list, and some establishment-friendly lawmakers including Felix Chung Kwok-pan of the pro-business Liberal Party said he had not been invited to any such briefing.
“They just listen, but they don’t consult anyway,” he said, suggesting the legislation was a done deal. The business sector was adopting a “wait and see” approach, he added.
Opposition lawmaker Dennis Kwok, representing the legal sector in Legco, slammed the legislative process as a “black box” with no transparency. He warned that giving the chief executive the power to choose judges to hear national security cases would deal a serious blow to judicial independence.
“One important element of judicial independence is that the judiciary can decide on its own which judge should be assigned to handle a case,” he said. “There is no law in Hong Kong that allows the chief executive to assign an individual judge to handle a specific case.”
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But Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah sought to reassure the public that judicial independence would remain intact. She suggested the city’s leader could appoint a group of judges for a pool that could be drawn from to hear national security cases, rather than picking a specific judge each time.
“It does not necessarily mean the chief executive would appoint a specific judge to handle a case,” Cheng said, citing as an example how a list of judges would be assigned to hear commercial cases because of their expertise in the area.
She also noted that the Basic Law already stipulated that judges of Hong Kong’s courts “shall be appointed by the chief executive”.
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Veteran pro-establishment lawmaker and former security minister Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee noted that not many judges had experience in handling national security cases. She believed the chief executive would consult the secretary for justice or the chief justice when appointing judges to relevant cases.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor expressed optimism that the new law would help restore confidence after the damage inflicted by months of often violent anti-government protests.
“[The national security law] will be an important step to bring Hong Kong back on the track of ‘one country, two systems’ and restore constitutional order,” Lam said at an online business forum organised by mainland media group Caixin. “It can ensure social stability and restore corporate and individual confidence in Hong Kong.”
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po warned at the same forum that China-US tensions and Washington’s threat to impose sanctions on Hong Kong over the national security law were a detriment. “It will make the road to global economic recovery more difficult,” he said.
Additional reporting by Sum Lok-Kei
