Anti-sanctions Law Can Be Added To Basic Law: SJ

The Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng said on Sunday that Beijing’s anti-sanctions law could be imposed on Hong Kong in the same way that the national security law was – by adding it annex three of the Basic Law.

Cheng said this would be the “most natural and appropriate” method.

The National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) will reportedly discuss later this month whether the mainland law should be adopted by the SAR as well, after it was passed in June to allow tit-for-tat measures against foreign sanctions on Chinese nationals or entities.

Cheng said whether the anti-sanctions law will be applied to the SAR will be up to the NPCSC, after consultations with the Basic Law committee and the Hong Kong government.

But Cheng added that it is a national law and the imposition of countermeasures is entirely a matter of foreign affairs.

Writing on her blog, the justice secretary noted that concerns had been expressed about the impact of the law, but she said this isn’t what people should be worried about.

"Why should a State or group of States be allowed to impose unilateral coercive measures against other States and legislate 'long-arm' statutes purporting to enforce such internationally wrongful acts without consequences," Cheng asked.

"It is these foreign states that impose unilateral coercive measures that should be condemned and it is they that the international community should be concerned about," she added.

The minister also criticised what she called "anti-China disruptors" who had "relentlessly and shamefully" sought for foreign governments to impose sanctions against China as well as Hong Kong.

The United States has imposed sanctions on a number of senior local and mainland officials, including Chief Executive Carrie Lam, over the implementation of the national security law.