A senior Chinese official yesterday said that authorities are working on reforms related to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, including its judicial system.
Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office Deputy Director Zhang Xiaoming (張曉明) told a legal summit in the territory that moves to “perfect” the legal system would not undermine judicial independence.
“We need to see the Basic Law as something that is alive so we can interpret the Basic Law whenever necessary,” said Zhang, referring to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, adding that authorities are looking to push through more “Basic Law-related work.”
Photo: EPA-EFE /Hong Kong Information Services Department
Zhang said that the work was related to “oath optimization” and “qualification screening” for civil servants, national education and judicial reform. He did not elaborate.
Under the territory’s new National Security Law, civil servants are required to pledge allegiance to Hong Kong and the Basic Law.
Zhang said the moves were aimed to correct “wrongful activities” and cover loopholes.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Right now is time to sort out what is true and what is false,” Zhang said, stating that people who do not recognize the “motherland” or threaten the country’s national security do not fall in line with the Basic Law.
Zhang’s comments come after Beijing passed a resolution last week to empower Hong Kong authorities to disqualify lawmakers deemed a threat to national security without having to go through courts.
Hong Kong then immediately expelled four legislators, prompting opposition pro-democracy lawmakers to resign en masse in protest on Thursday last week.
“Only those who are patriotic should be in place, otherwise they should be removed from the system,” Zhang said.
In related news, Taiwanese and Hong Kong advocates have expressed alarm over reports that China is compiling a global watch list of those who have voiced views deemed separatist, a move that would mark a major escalation in Beijing’s pursuit of its critics.
China is gathering names of prominent advocates of Taiwanese independence, a Beijing-backed newspaper in Hong Kong, the Ta Kung Pao reported earlier this week.
The list could include advocates both in Taiwan and abroad as well as those who helped fund such activities, Ta Kung Pao said, citing officials it did not name.
The newspaper is among the publishing operations controlled by China’s government through its Hong Kong Liaison Office.
Meanwhile, state broadcaster Shenzhen Satellite TV said in a commentary over the weekend that secession was criminalized by the National Security Law, a measure that also covers those advocating Taiwan’s independence.
The legislation includes a controversial provision that applies to non-residents residing overseas.
“They will no longer be able to set foot in Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese mainland and it will also be very dangerous for them to travel to other countries and regions,” the Chinese tabloid Global Times said on Monday in an editorial. “In short, this list will be a ‘sword of Damocles’ hanging over their heads for a long time to come and they will never know when it will come down.”
Former Hong Kong lawmaker Nathan Law (羅冠聰), 27, who fled to London before the law’s enactment, said the reports showed that Beijing planned to raise the stakes.
“The list will definitely impose a stronger level of white terror and send a threatening signal to those in Hong Kong and in Taiwan that they dare not travel to Hong Kong, China and the other places anymore,” Law said.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday referred questions about the list to the “competent authority,” without elaborating.
“What I can tell you is China is determined to safeguard its national unity and territorial integrity. No separatist attempt will succeed, its only outcome is total failure,” Zhao told reporters.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who the Global Times editorial named as one prominent example of a Taiwanese independence supporter, told reporters in Taipei yesterday that he would “guard the country and protect people without giving in to military force.”
The Mainland Affairs Office said any list would be “counterproductive” and ineffective.
“China’s attempts to intimidate Taiwanese into self-censorship and incite cross-strait confrontation with such extreme agenda, has destroyed cross-strait peace and stability,” it said in a text message to Bloomberg.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
‘FREEDOM WINE’: Taiwanese are empathetic of Australians, the president said, while lawmakers called on their constituents to drink Australian wine to show their support Taiwan would take action to back Australians at a time when they are “under tremendous pressure,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, as tensions between Australia and China heated up. Taipei and Canberra have been mutually supportive in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in exchanging critical medical materials in the early stages, Tsai said, before chairing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei. Taiwan and Australia are like-minded nations, sharing the common values of democracy, freedom and human rights, while their economic and trade relations have also become close, she said. Canberra has been voicing support for Taiwan’s international
VIGILANCE: From tomorrow all arrivals must provide the result of a PCR test issued within three days of boarding, and the CECC asked people to report anyone who has faked their result The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) expects an increase in the number of returning travelers in the coming days, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday, adding that the varying qualities of COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test reports from other countries is a big concern. Chen, who heads the center, was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders scholarship award ceremony in Taipei. “As the global COVID-19 situation is worsening, and with some holidays coming up, there might be an increase in the number of overseas Taiwanese returning to Taiwan,” he
SKIN, ENTRAILS: Placards also dotted the legislative chamber, with slogans such as ‘Oppose ractopamine pork — not US pork’ and ‘Much ado about nothing’ Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday pelted Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) with pig skin and entrails as he addressed the Legislative Yuan on pork imports for the first time since the KMT’s boycott began on Sept. 18. Opposition lawmakers have been demanding an apology from the government for its decision to lift its ban on the importation of US pork containing residues of the livestock drug ractopamine. After Su arrived at 10am for his 13th attempt to deliver a regular policy report, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus moved to change the agenda to accommodate the premier. The motion resulted in cries of
CECC RULES: The autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program, including mandatory mask wearing in eight types of public venues and indoor facilities, begins today A temporary, two-week ban on Indonesian migrant workers entering the nation is to begin on Friday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday as it reported 24 new imported cases of COVID-19. Twenty of the new cases are Indonesian migrant workers who arrived between Nov. 11 and Friday last week, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. The cases were discovered during a special project on Friday to conduct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on all 939 recently arrived Indonesian migrant workers in centralized quarantine facilities, as the majority of imported cases in the past
RSS