Labour Minister: Natural To Worry About Security Law

Labour and Welfare Secretary Law Chi-kwong, says it's only natural for people to worry about Beijing's national security law for the SAR, but action is needed to prevent society from becoming more divided in what he described as a “vicious cycle”.

Speaking to RTHK in an exclusive interview, Law said that if separatist activities and even budding terrorism are not stopped now, mistrust in society will grow.

The labour and welfare minister says it’s only natural for people to worry about the proposed legislation, because no details of it are available yet.

But he said the uncertainty will go away – without elaborating.

But if the government avoids handling the problems simply because there are opposing views or because people don’t trust Beijing, the likelihood of enacting the national law here will only get slimmer in future.

He said the vicious cycle has to end, and it will be beneficial to Hong Kong in the long run to introduce a legal framework to tackle any acts that threaten national security.

Law also rejected suggestions that the SAR government only reports the views of the pro-establishment camp to Beijing, and thus fails to reflect the true situation in here.

The National People's Congress approved the draft legislation last month, with the NPC Standing Committee to discuss details of the law before it is promulgated in Hong Kong.