Hong Kong’s new national security law should balance country’s safety and residents’ rights, Bar Association head tells top Beijing official, who calls on city to cement global status

Xia Baolong, director of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, meets Bar Association and Law Society members to discuss coming Article 23 national security bill

City should further solidify its international status and attract more foreign investment, Xia is also quoted as saying

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Top Beijing official Xia Baolong, with city leader John Lee Ka-chiu on the right, meets a boy at the first government-led “community living room” on Sunday. Photo: SCMP

Published: 10:45am, 25 Feb 2024Updated: 11:22pm, 25 Feb 2024

Hong Kong’s proposed domestic national security law should strike a balance between defending the country’s safety and protecting residents’ rights, the head of the Bar Association has told a top Beijing official making a seven-day fact-finding visit.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, was also quoted as saying the city should cement its international status and attract more foreign investment during his meeting with members of the association and Law Society at the government’s headquarters in Admiralty on Sunday.

High on the meeting agenda was the coming security bill, which Hong Kong is required to enact under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

Top Beijing official Xia Baolong meets members of the Bar Association and Law Society, among others, at the government’s headquarters on Sunday. Photo: SCMP

Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, chairman of the association, the body regulating 1,600 barristers in the city, welcomed the “honest and constructive discussion”.

“This is our third meeting with Xia within a year, and it shows that the central government attaches great importance to Hong Kong’s judicial system and legal sector,” he said.

“We told Xia that society has different opinions towards the provisions of the law … we also mentioned that the law, apart from defending national security, should also balance the rights of Hong Kong residents protected by the Basic Law.”

Dawes said Xia patiently listened to their opinions, declining to reveal further information for confidentiality reasons.