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Central govt has jurisdiction over serious cases in HK on natl security: official

Global Times

By Yang Sheng Source:Global Times Published: 2020/6/15 22:57:46

Stricter measures needed if natl security law faces resistance: experts

A senior official of the central government in charge of Hong Kong and Macao affairs said the central government should retain its jurisdiction over "specific serious cases" in Hong Kong that grossly compromise national security, but that the city government will shoulder the "major" responsibility in enforcing the national security law after it is enacted.

Mainland experts said if the legislation is interrupted just like the turmoil in Hong Kong in 2019, the central government will be empowered to take stern measures to govern Hong Kong and exercise its direct jurisdiction in the city.

Deng Zhonghua, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, made the comments at a symposium in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province on Monday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Basic Law promulgation.

Deng said the central government's direct jurisdiction of specific serious cases would be "very, very few" and would not replace the responsibility of the relevant departments of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), nor would it affect the HKSAR's judicial authority according to the Basic Law.

The central government will establish national security agencies to oversee national security-related issues in Hong Kong, and the agencies should "supervise and guide" Hong Kong's enforcement of the law, and the agencies and the HKSAR's relevant authorities should also strengthen information and intelligence sharing on a routine basis.

On what the "specific serious cases" are, mainland experts provided various views, saying the legislation is still in progress. They said Deng's remarks could guide legal professionals in Hong Kong during the legislation progress.

According to the decision on the national security legislation for Hong Kong passed by the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, on May 28, acts in the HKSAR to split the country, subvert state power, organize and carry out terrorist activities and other behavior that seriously endangers national security, as well as interference from foreign and external forces in the affairs of the HKSAR will be targeted by the new law.

Li Xiaobing, a Hong Kong affairs expert at Nankai University in Tianjin who attended the symposium in Shenzhen, told the Global Times that "as long as the cases involve these acts, in principle, they can be regarded as 'specific serious cases.' This is a clear bottom line the NPC has set, and no matter how the legislation gets finalized, the central government has been authorized to have direct control in these conditions."

"The new national security law could differentiate between 'normal' and 'significant' cases," Tian Feilong, a Hong Kong affairs expert at Beihang University in Beijing who also attended the symposium, told the Global Times.

"So, in order to safeguard national security and keep the HKSAR's high-level of autonomy, Hong Kong legal professionals should think about providing constructive suggestions to help clarify the distinction between 'normal' and 'significant' cases, and between the responsibility of the central government and the HKSAR in the new law, instead of vainly attempting to exclude the direct jurisdiction of the central government in Hong Kong," since it is impossible and unreasonable, he noted.

Deng also said that establishment of national security agencies under the central government in Hong Kong was an "unequivocal demand" set out by the NPC.

The central government's jurisdiction over cases which seriously damage national security in the HKSAR must be given "teeth" for effective deterrence, rather than just talking the talk but taking no effective action, Deng noted, adding that the HKSAR government should also establish institutes for decision-making, and be responsible for research and analyzing the national security situations.

For the executive aspect, the HKSAR government should set special branch with special and professional forces and personnel to handle cases related to the national security, Deng further said.

Hong Kong police are setting up a dedicated unit to enforce the national security law, ready to function on the "very first day" the legislation takes effect, the city's security secretary said, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Wednesday.

HKSAR Security Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu said the new unit, under the command of police commissioner Chris Tang Ping-keung, "would have intelligence gathering, investigation and training capabilities," the SCMP reported.

Wang Zhenmin, former director of the Legal Affairs Department of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, said the national security legislation for the HKSAR is the gentlest, the most fundamental and most bottom-line legislation, and if the legislation is still opposed, then it would need to be adjusted to meet the high standards of similar laws in other countries, Hong Kong-based media takungpao.com reported.

Tian said "compared to the national security laws of other countries, the new legislation for the HKSAR only targets a few, and the cases are also very few," so this shows that the central government doesn't want to get involved in every aspect and affect Hong Kong's high-level autonomy.

Li noted that "Wang's remarks also showed another sign: If the legislation process faces serious resistance, just like the massive turmoil in 2019 against the extradition bill, then the legislation could be much stricter and the central government's authority on jurisdiction in Hong Kong could also be broadened."

Tian added that "if it still faces massive resistance, it means the current gentle legislation is not enough to handle the national security threat in the HKSAR. The central government will take stricter and tougher actions, and more powers could be given to the central government in governing Hong Kong, and punishment for illegal activities could also be harsher."

Officials from the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, members of the Basic Law Committee of the Standing Committee of the NPC, and more than 200 experts and former officials from the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, as well as foreign scholars and experts from countries including the UK, Spain and Russia, also attended the symposium, takungpao.com reported.

Lau Siu-kai, a vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, said at the symposium that "some people in Hong Kong are very disappointed and feel 'betrayed.' The support foreign forces can offer them will largely be reduced after the national security law is enacted."

Chen Dong, a deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, said there is no such region like Hong Kong which could enjoy such a high level of autonomy, and some Western politicians make groundless comments on the HKSAR's autonomy, "and I don't know where they get the evidence and confidence to do so."

The Xinhua News Agency reported that foreign experts who attended the symposium discussed the experience in safeguarding national unity and preventing separatism in their own countries, and China's countermeasures to foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs are in accordance with international law.