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National security law: Carrie Lam admits new censorship rules have caused Hong Kong filmmakers anxiety
- But ‘freedom of expression’ not absolute, city leader says, noting Beijing-imposed legislation had provisions that affected nearly every government department
- Commerce secretary Edward Yau will meet with key industry figures and lawmakers to ‘allay their concerns’
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Hong Kong’s leader has conceded that new guidelines authorising the banning of films believed to breach the Beijing-imposed national security law have sparked concerns within the sector, while insisting that “freedom of expression is not without exceptions”.
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Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Tuesday said the city’s commerce secretary would meet industry figures and the lawmaker representing them to “allay their concerns”.
“There are several very relevant provisions or articles in the [security law] that require almost every department, individual and organisation to not do things that would undermine national security and harm the nation’s interests, including subverting the central and Hong Kong governments. We have to review all our systems,” Lam said.
I admit it has perhaps caused some anxiety among film industry practitioners and also from members representing the cultural sector, such as [lawmaker] Ma Fung-kwok
The new guidelines would provide clear rules for civil servants under the film censorship authority, according to Lam, but she also for the first time acknowledged the outcry that was triggered.
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