Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) yesterday said that Beijing’s proposed national security laws would not trample on the territory’s rights and freedoms, and called on citizens to wait to see the details of the legislation.
Lam added her voice to an unprecedented barrage of statements by Beijing and local officials, and former Hong Kong leaders defending the legislation and seeking to reassure residents, investors and diplomats about the territory’s freedoms.
“There is no need for us to worry,” Lam told a regular weekly news conference.
Photo: Reuters
Like others supporting the legislation, she did not explain how Hong Kong’s freedoms would be upheld.
“In the last 23 years, whenever people worried about Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and freedom of expression and protest, time and again, Hong Kong has proven that we uphold and preserve those values,” she said. “The best thing is to see the legislation in front of us and to understand why at this point in time Hong Kong needs this piece of legislation.”
According to a draft proposal last week, the legislation aims to tackle secession, subversion and terrorist activities.
It could see Chinese intelligence agencies set up bases in Hong Kong.
Thousands poured onto the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday in a mass protest against the laws. Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd and arrested almost 200 people.
It was the first major demonstration since pro-democracy protests rocked Hong Kong last year over an unsuccessful plan to introduce an extradition law with China.
More protests are expected in Hong Kong today, against national security laws and a bill due for a second reading in the territory’s legislature that would criminalize abuse of China’s national anthem.
The United States, Britain, the European Union and others expressed concerns about the laws and Washington warned Hong Kong could lose the preferential treatment that makes it a vibrant interface between communist China and the West.
Major General Chen Daoxiang (陳道祥), the commander of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army garrison in Hong Kong, said in a rare interview that the garrison firmly supported the new legislation.
Chen told Chinese state television that the garrison had the determination and ability to safeguard national sovereignty and the territory’s long-term prosperity and security.
The garrison did not confront pro-democracy protesters last year, but Beijing and local officials have toughened their rhetoric recently, describing some of the acts in the protests as “terrorism” and attempts of “secessionism,” remarks echoed by Lam yesterday.
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