Hong Kong to begin consultation on home-grown national security law on Tuesday, sources say

Chief Executive John Lee, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam and security minister Chris Tang to hold a press conference on Tuesday

Full draft of legislation will not be made available to public, insider confirms

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Article 23 requires Hong Kong to enact legislation to ban acts of treason, secession, subversion and theft of state secrets. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:22pm, 29 Jan 2024Updated: 10:07pm, 29 Jan 2024

A public consultation on Hong Kong’s home-grown national security law will start on Tuesday rather than early February as previously expected, sources have said, with the city leader set to map out details of the work on Tuesday alongside top officials.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu would hold a press conference at 10am on the public consultation of the Article 23 legislation, joined by Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok and security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung, the government said.

Lee will not convene the regular weekly meeting of the city’s key decision-making Executive Council on Tuesday.

A source said Exco members had read the consultation paper.

Another insider confirmed the consultation would not be in a “white bill” format, an arrangement under which a full draft of the legislation is made available to the public.

Sources earlier said the consultation period would begin before the Lunar New Year holiday in February.