Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) yesterday said that the territory would create its own national security law next year, four years after Beijing imposed sweeping legislation aimed at silencing dissent.
The Beijing-anointed leader unveiled measures in a policy address aimed at revitalizing Hong Kong’s economy and flagging population growth, while asserting the need to protect the territory from “external forces.”
“Some countries are undermining China and the implementation of ‘one country, two systems’ in Hong Kong for their own benefits,” Lee said, referring to the governance model agreed by Britain and China under which the territory would keep some autonomy and freedoms following the 1997 handover.
Photo: Bloomberg
“External forces continue to meddle in Hong Kong affairs,” he said.
“We must guard against those seeking to provoke conflict ... and remain alert to acts of ‘soft resistance’ in different forms,” said Lee, using a phrase that Chinese and Hong Kong officials have used in speeches to denote anti-government actions.
Protests rocked the territory in 2019, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets to call for greater freedoms and more autonomy from mainland China.
In response, Beijing imposed a National Security Law to punish four major crimes — secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces — with sentences of up to life in prison.
Lee — who is under US sanctions for his role in stamping out the protests — said that Hong Kong would “continue to safeguard national security.”
“The government is pressing ahead to draw up effective legislative options and will complete the legislative exercise in 2024 to fulfill our constitutional duty,” Lee said.
Under the Basic Law — the territory’s mini-constitution — Hong Kong is required to implement its own law combating seven security-related crimes, including treason and espionage.
The task, often referred to as “a constitutional responsibility” by the Hong Kong government, has yet to be fulfilled more than 25 years after its return to Chinese rule.
The last legislative attempt in 2003 was shelved after about 500,000 people took to the streets in protest.
Data from the Hong Kong Security Bureau showed that as of the end of last month, 280 people had been arrested and 30 had been convicted under the National Security Law.
The legislation has effectively snuffed out political dissent.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the