'Independence Calls, Not Violence, Motivate New Law'

Executive councillor Ronny Tong said on Monday that calls for independence and the "liberation" of Hong Kong have motivated Beijing's efforts to impose national security laws on the SAR more than the months of street violence.

Speaking on RTHK's Backchat programme, Tong said scenes of petrol bombs and bricks being thrown were not necessarily a matter of national security in themselves but were "violence, nothing else".

"I think as far as Beijing is concerned, of course they are concerned about the violence, but they are more concerned about the calls for independence, the calls for liberation of Hong Kong, people waving United States flags when they are saying all those things," Tong said.

"So it is not just about dealing with the violence on the streets."

Tong, a senior counsel, also said it's common sense for the justice secretary to say that the new laws won't be exactly in line with Hong Kong's common law system, as they are being drafted by Beijing.

Teresa Cheng said on Sunday that it was "impractical and unreasonable" to expect the laws to look exactly like a statute in a common law jurisdiction.

But Tong said human rights safeguards that are now practised in Hong Kong will still apply in national security cases.

"When the national security law is enacted, it will become part of the law of Hong Kong," he said. "As such, all the safeguards relating to criminal procedure will as a matter of logic, as well as being part of the system, apply."

"You therefore don't need to spell them out in the criminal legislation, just as in any other criminal legislation in Hong Kong you don't see the legislation spelling out all the safeguards."

Tong was a leading campaigner against the SAR government's attempts in 2003 to implement national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

Asked why he was now supportive of Beijing's attempts to implement such laws, he said the situation was totally different.

"I think the similarities, if there are many, between 2003 and now should not be overly exaggerated. In 2003, I as somebody who opposed the way in which legislation was put through in Legco thought, like many people, there was no urgent need.

"There was no violence. There were no people calling for the liberation of Hong Kong and calling for the United States to send the army to Hong Kong to, in quotes, 'protect Hong Kong people'."