'Beijing Believes SAR Govt Is Too Weak On Security'

Beijing does not expect Hong Kong to enact Article 23 national security laws anytime soon, but wants the SAR government to find the courage to make use of existing legislation to combat threats, according to a vice-president of Beijing's top think tank on Hong Kong.

Lau Siu-kai said on Thursday that if the SAR government can't take action to protect national security, Beijing is quite willing and prepared to use the tools at its disposal to tackle what it sees as an increasingly dangerous situation in Hong Kong.

"I would say that Beijing is not that concerned about Article 23 being enacted in the short-run. I don't think that Beijing has that kind of confidence that the Hong Kong government has the will, and the ability, to enact Article 23 in a short period," Lau told RTHK's Janice Wong.

"There are still a lot of laws in Hong Kong, including those laws inherited from the colonial past, that can be used or reactivated to cope with the situation. What is lacking, in the eyes of Beijing, is that the Hong Kong government does not have enough willpower, does not have enough courage to use the existing laws to prosecute people who commit acts which threaten national security."

His comments come in response to a call by liaison office chief Luo Huining on Wednesday for Hong Kong to bring in new national security laws "as soon as possible".

Lau said Beijing expects the United States to ramp up efforts to contain China in light of the coronavirus pandemic, and this, along with the months of unrest in Hong Kong, are seen as a growing cause for alarm.

The think tank chief also said that if the pro-democracy camp dominates Legco after this September's elections, he expects Beijing to take "strong action" to protect national security.

"Beijing will not tolerate any situation where Hong Kong is lost to external and internal hostile forces," he said.

Lau would not elaborate on what form this "strong action" he envisaged could take.