Mainland China’s anti-sanctions law should be applied to Hong Kong via local legislation to prevent the issue from being “hyped up” by foreign forces looking to weaken the city’s status as a financial centre, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said. The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, the country’s top legislative body, is expected to meet next week to add the new national legislation to the Hong Kong and Macau Basic Laws, the cities’ mini-constitutions. But the anti-sanctions legislation was unlikely to be directly implemented – nor immediately enacted in Hong Kong – as was the case with the national security law , Lam explained on Tuesday. The new law, a response to a spate of United States sanctions imposed on mainland and Hong Kong officials accused of eroding the city’s freedoms, allows Beijing to take countermeasures against foreign individuals and entities involved in discriminatory measures that “violate international laws and basic norms”. Under the Basic Law’s Article 18, national laws do not apply in Hong Kong except for those listed in Annex III. Once included, they can then be applied locally either by promulgation or through the city’s Legislative Council. Speaking ahead of her weekly Executive Council meeting, Lam said she would opt for a local legislative process allowing for adaptations that would suit the city’s circumstances, confirming an earlier Post report . “I am very certain that there will be foreign forces, such as governments and media outlets, that will hype the issue up and use it as an excuse to weaken the city’s status as a financial centre or others’ confidence in the city,” Lam said. “A local legislative process can help clarify the legal procedure and framework of the anti-sanctions law.” Examples of Beijing legislation that have previously been applied via Legco include the national anthem law , which was passed by a 41 to 1 vote in June 2020. Lam said that law was applicable to the whole country but needed to take Hong Kong’s specific circumstances into account before taking effect in the city. That was unnecessary in the case of the national security law, she explained, because Beijing’s tailor-made legislation for the city had taken local concerns into account. While the final decision on whether she could proceed with the legislative approach for the anti-sanctions law rested with the NPC Standing Committee, Lam said there was no doubt of its necessity. “This is an anti-foreign sanctions law. We are not proactively slapping sanctions on foreign figures or bodies. But we need to have the power to hit back when someone brutally sanctions our country, its organs, as well as central [government] and Hong Kong officials,” she said. Anti-sanctions law will be wielded with care, Hong Kong justice minister vows Passed in June, the national anti-sanctions law, under Article 11 and 12, specifies that no body or person in the country may help other countries implement measures against China, and that organisations or individuals must instead help Beijing authorities to execute retaliatory measures. Article 14 also states that organisations and individuals refusing to execute or cooperate with retaliatory measures will be “subject to legal liability”. The law has triggered concerns that international firms or banks operating in Hong Kong that comply with US sanctions against mainland and city officials could find themselves in the cross hairs. Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei said it was better for the national law to be applied in Hong Kong through a local legislative process than direct promulgation, but added: “I have completely no idea on how the bill will be drafted.”