Greenpeace voices its fears over security law

Greenpeace China fears it could be a victim of the proposed new security law as it starts to focus more on mainland campaigns.

Luisa Tam Han-may, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong-based environmental group, said it was studying the possible impact of legislation proposed under Article 23 of the Basic Law on the group's operations because of the unclear definition of state secrets.

She said the blurred concept of state secrets, as stated in the government consultation paper, could become a trap for all non-governmental organisations.

Greenpeace China is the first green group in the SAR to voice its fears over the law. Other organisations, such as Greenpower, the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong and the Conservancy Association, all say they have not studied the issue in detail although they agree that it is a matter for concern.

A source close to Greenpeace China said the group was worried as it might occasionally come across documents that could unkwowingly be classified as state secrets.

It said the issue of toxic mud dumping involving the construction of Container Terminal 9 could have become a trap for the campaigners under Article 23.

The group exposed the dumping activities across the border in 1999 and released some mainland documents involving the dispute which were published in the media. The dispute eventually led to a dumping ban by Hong Kong, hitting the revenue of mainland authorities and nearly triggering a cross-border row on the dumping.