I don’t want to repeat dark times and tragic experiences! Li Jiachao talks about 23 pieces of legislation: Hong Kong must have good locks
According to Hong Kong media reports, Hong Kong Chief Executive Lee Ka-chiu recently told the media in Beijing that among the five key tasks reported to President Xi Jinping, he proposed in the "Policy Address" to complete the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law within next year.
On October 25, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Lee Ka-chiu, delivered the second "Policy Address" during his term of office in the Legislative Council. He proposed that the Hong Kong SAR government will make every effort to safeguard national security and improve relevant legal systems and enforcement mechanisms. The SAR government is making every effort to study an effective legislative plan for Article 23 of the Basic Law, implement the constitutional responsibilities that the SAR government should fulfill, and complete the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law within 2024.
Li Jiachao said that Hong Kong people have experienced pain before, and they need laws that can effectively protect national security. This is a consensus among Hong Kong people who have experienced the dark period in 2019 and do not want to repeat the tragic experience again.
Li Jiachao pointed out that Hong Kong is no different from any city or jurisdiction in the world and requires laws to maintain security. "When people try to break into our house, we just want a good lock."
The Secretary for Justice of the SAR government, Lam Ting-kwok, later attended a geopolitical forum and stated that completing the legislation on Article 23 of the Basic Law is the constitutional responsibility of the SAR and he is confident that the legislation can be completed within next year. "This is a goal that must be achieved, because this is not a problem of KPI, this is a problem of our 'unpaid homework'. We have not fulfilled this constitutional responsibility for many years. This is not a new goal, we are 'paying back the old' Debt'. "In his view, Article 23 legislation is like a vaccine, designed to strengthen one's own resistance.
The Secretary for Security of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Tang Bingqiang, stated at the Security Affairs Committee of the Hong Kong Legislative Council held on November 13 that the 23-article legislation will not and cannot replace the "Hong Kong National Security Law", and the two complement each other. Deng Bingqiang said that we should be prepared for danger in times of peace and think about the "bloody lessons" in 2019. He pointed out that after the "Hong Kong version of the Color Revolution" in 2019, some people attempted to subvert the government and some threw gas bombs, which shows that the Article 23 legislation is necessary. Once the legislative framework is in place, the government will conduct consultations with a view to completing the legislation in 2024.
Article 23 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region stipulates that “the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall enact legislation on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion of the Central People’s Government and theft of state secrets, and prohibit foreign political organizations or groups from conducting activities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.” Political organizations or groups in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are prohibited from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or groups.”
