Beijing Tells HK To Put Local Laws In Line With NSL

A Beijing official overseeing Hong Kong affairs has told the SAR authorities to revise local legislation to keep it aligned with the national security law (NSL).

Xia Baolong, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, made the remarks on Friday at a seminar in the capital, where he also noted that the security law has an overriding effect on local legislation.

"When provisions of local laws in the SAR are inconsistent with [the NSL], the national security law should be applied first. The SAR should take the initiative to amend and improve local legislation, so that it is kept in organic unity with the national security law," Xia said.

He pointed to the "dual enforcement mechanism" of the legislation, where Hong Kong assumes the main responsibility of safeguarding national security, while the central authorities deal with issues the SAR finds difficult to resolve.

Xia said a recent interpretation of the security law by the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) clearly set out the method and path for resolving problems encountered locally, leaving the Committee For Safeguarding National Security to make a judgement and decision on specific issues.

The Beijing official also stressed that safeguarding national security is the responsibility of everyone.

"Everyone in society should be a participant, a promoter and a beneficiary of safeguarding national security, and not a bystander," he said.

Xia said education and promotion of the NSL must be stepped up, especially among young people, to cultivate their awareness of national security and patriotism from an early age.

Meanwhile, Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong's sole member of the NPCSC, said amending local laws to put them in line with the NSL will have no impact on the legal system. He said the move will only bring about benefits.

Business and Professionals Alliance legislator Priscilla Leung, who is also a barrister, echoed Tam's view.

She added that authorities will need time to study which legal provisions need to be amended.

"It's been made clear that the SAR has the right to [rectify the problem] proactively if there are ambiguities in the Crimes Ordinance and the Public Order Ordinance as well as some other ordinances, in order to prevent a request for interpretation of the law over a minor detail," she said.

"I think people have to give the government and Legco time to look into this together... We will study this as soon as possible."

Legal scholar Albert Chan said he did not see any urgent need to amend local laws, other than the Legal Practitioners Ordinance. The government is working on legislative amendments to the ordinance concerning the involvement of overseas lawyers in Hong Kong national security cases.

Executive councillor and barrister Ronny Tong said he was not sure if there are any other laws that are "lagging behind" and need to catch up with the required standards of the NSL.

"As far as I know, I don't think we are looking at a lot of laws which need to be amended or brought up to date to be more compatible with the Hong Kong national security law...The Legal Practitioners Ordinance is one," he told RTHK.

"The amendment would not be huge. It probably can be done within this legal term of Legco."