HKSAR Government strongly condemns baseless allegations on Police National Security Department's law enforcement action by US Congressional-Executive Commission on China and EU

Hksar government condemns us and eu criticism of police national security department's actions

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government today (May 30) strongly disapproved of and condemned all baseless allegations by the United States (US) Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and the European Union (EU) against the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and Police National Security Department's law enforcement action which simply do not stand up to the facts.

​The HKSAR law enforcement agencies have been taking law enforcement actions based on evidence and strictly in accordance with the law in respect of the acts of the persons or entities concerned, and have nothing to do with their political stance, background or occupation.

​For the concerned law enforcement action taken by the Police in accordance with the Ordinance, investigation revealed that the acts of the arrested persons involved repeatedly publishing posts with seditious intention on a social platform with content provoking hatred towards the Central Government, the HKSAR Government and the Judiciary, as well as inciting netizens to organise or participate in relevant illegal activities. Offences in connection with seditious intention are very serious crimes, and no jurisdictions, including the US and those from the EU, will watch with folded arms acts and activities that endanger national security.

We have emphasised time and again that the Ordinance only targets an extremely small minority of people who endanger national security, with the aim of protecting the lives, property, freedoms and rights of the people of Hong Kong. The offences under the Ordinance, including offences in connection with "seditious intention" will not hinder legitimate expression of opinions, such as making reasonable and genuine criticism of government policies based on objective facts.

The Ordinance clearly specifies that the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Basic Law, as well as the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong Kong, are to be protected in accordance with the law.

The Ordinance is a piece of legislation to defend against acts and activities endangering national security. Only invaders who want to intrude into our home to plunder and loot should be worried by the Ordinance.

Remarks by DSJ at media session

Following are the remarks by the Deputy Secretary for Justice, Mr Cheung Kwok-kwan, at a media session after attending a radio programme today (October 5):

Reporter: Mr Cheung, because quite a number of overseas judges have resigned, so are you worried about voices concerning the recognition and the credibility of the top courts in Hong Kong? And do you think there is a need to fill up the vacancies as soon as possible?

Deputy Secretary for Justice: Certainly, we fully recognise the contributions made by the overseas judges in Hong Kong. Several of them left, maybe for different reasons, some for personal reasons and some for other reasons that may not be disclosed to us. I will say that we recognise their contributions. But, as you can see many excellent common law jurisdictions in the world, they do not have such kind of mechanism. The mechanism of overseas judges is a unique feature of our system, but it doesn't mean that if you do not have overseas judges, you do not have good rule of law, as you can see from the other examples of other jurisdictions all over the world. The appointment of the overseas judges is not the job of the Department of Justice but I am pretty sure that our Judiciary will continue to look for other outstanding judges in overseas jurisdictions. For the Hong Kong people, we should recognise that there are very good remarks made by the other serving overseas judges in Hong Kong and overseas judges who just left, they fully recognise the rule of law in Hong Kong and we must have every confidence in our own rule of law, in our legal system.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)