Hong Kong must adopt innovative, bottom-line mindset to capitalise on development: John Lee
- City leader says now is ‘best time ever for development’ on fourth anniversary of national security law’s promulgation by Beijing
Hong Kong must adopt an “innovative and bottom-line mentality” if it wishes to capitalise on a prime period for its development, the city’s leader has said, on the fourth anniversary of the national security law’s promulgation by Beijing.
“We need to adopt an innovative and bottom-line mentality and make policies that are tailored to the needs of this particular time and space,” he said in a video shared to his social media accounts.
Central and local authorities made national security a priority following social unrest in 2019, with Beijing imposing the national security law in 2020 and Hong Kong introducing the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in March.
A Hong Kong government spokesman said on Sunday that the Beijing-imposed legislation had restored order among society after a period of chaos, allowing the public and the economy to go back to normality.
“Hong Kong’s rise in world competitiveness rankings to one of the world’s top economies is a good testament to the fact that high-level security protection will underpin high-quality development,” he said.
The spokesman reiterated that the offences in both national security laws were clearly defined and only targeted an extremely small minority of people and organisations, and would not affect law-abiding residents or travellers.