Hong Kong’s new national security law should balance country’s safety and residents’ rights, Bar Association head tells top Beijing official, who calls on city to cement global status
- Xia Baolong, director of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, meets Bar Association and Law Society members to discuss coming Article 23 national security bill
- City should further solidify its international status and attract more foreign investment, Xia is also quoted as saying
Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, was also quoted as saying the city should cement its international status and attract more foreign investment during his meeting with members of the association and Law Society at the government’s headquarters in Admiralty on Sunday.
Senior Counsel Victor Dawes, chairman of the association, the body regulating 1,600 barristers in the city, welcomed the “honest and constructive discussion”.
“This is our third meeting with Xia within a year, and it shows that the central government attaches great importance to Hong Kong’s judicial system and legal sector,” he said.
“We told Xia that society has different opinions towards the provisions of the law … we also mentioned that the law, apart from defending national security, should also balance the rights of Hong Kong residents protected by the Basic Law.”
Dawes said Xia patiently listened to their opinions, declining to reveal further information for confidentiality reasons.
Chan Chak-ming, president of the Law Society, the professional body for the city’s 13,000 solicitors, said Xia hoped Hong Kong could maintain its strengths as an international hub and strongly supported investment from more foreign companies.
Both Chan and Dawes added that they would submit their opinions on the legislation to the government before the end of a month-long consultation period on Wednesday.
Who is Xia Baolong and what is his fact-finding visit to Hong Kong about?
This is the city’s second attempt to legislate Article 23 after an ill-fated one in 2003.
The proposed law introduces five new types of offences: treason, insurrection, sabotage, foreign interference, and theft of state secrets and espionage.
The Beijing official was on the fourth day of a seven-day trip – longer than any of his previous visits – to better understand the city’s economic development and district governance.
Xia started Sunday by enjoying yum cha at a dim sum restaurant in Wong Tai Sin with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and some government ministers.
Following breakfast, Xia toured the city’s first government-led community living room on Fuk Wah Street in Sham Shui Po, which allows underprivileged households to meet and greet neighbours, cook, dine, do laundry and shower while children are also able to make use of the space to do homework.
Separately in the afternoon, he met at least 20 media representatives and commentators at government headquarters.
During the Sham Shui Po visit, Xia told the government to step up its efforts in providing community facilities to ease the tough conditions faced by residents living in subdivided flats.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said the Beijing official had noted that the project was “moving in the right direction”.
“He feels that the project addresses the difficulties and pain of subdivided flat residents, and encourages us to do more,” he said after the tour.
At least 220,000 people in the city live in subdivided flats – homes carved up by separating a property into tiny cubicles that often pose hygiene and fire safety hazards.
‘Hong Kong’s new broadly worded national security offences could stifle press’
Sun said the government would roll out at least three more similar projects in the next six months in Sham Shui Po and Kowloon City.
Sino Group donated the space for the community centre, which opened in December.
A 44-year-old housewife said more such facilities were needed. She exchanged a few words with Xia in the communal kitchen, where she and neighbours were making pancakes.
“[He] praised the children for helping out in the kitchen and I shared with him what I usually cook here,” she said. “The community living room has helped me a lot … it would be great if more such facilities could be set up to support people in need.”
Derek Leung, a seven-year-old boy, said he was reading a book about the country’s geography when Xia spoke to him.
“[He] taught me how to read the words and said I could definitely visit Tiananmen Square in Beijing on my own in the future,” he said. “He was very kind to me.”
Xia said the mission of the trip, the second in 10 months, was to plan a “new stage of development” for the city by working with the administration and all sectors of society.
The official arrived in the city on Thursday and will depart on Wednesday, when Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po unveils his latest budget.
On Monday, Xia is expected to meet financial sector leaders.
Apart from local officials and lawmakers, the top Beijing official has met business leaders and tycoons, urging them to maintain their faith in the city and assuring them the “one country, two systems” governing principle will continue.
Xia also told district councillors and community leaders to act as a bridge between the government and the people.
