Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam repeatedly defended the need for Beijing’s national security law in Hong Kong in her weekly press conference on June 23.
Lam had a short message for those who continue to raise questions about how the law will damage Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model. She said that those critics probably “have never clearly had an accurate impression of [the principle] of ‘one country.’”
The model is currently used in Hong Kong, since the city’s sovereignty was handed back from Britain to China in 1997, which was intended to preserve its autonomy and freedoms while under mainland Chinese rule. The Chinese mainland is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
However, Beijing has slowly encroached upon Hong Kong’s liberties and political freedoms in recent years, resulting last year in the eruption of mass protests that have been ongoing since June last year.
China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC), adopted the national security law for Hong Kong on May 28 after a ceremonial vote. Immediately, it drew backlash from local activists and pro-democracy lawmakers, saying that the CCP’s law would undermine local autonomy and replace the current model with “one country, one system.”
The law would criminalize those who engage in activities connected to “subversion, secession, terrorism, and foreign interference” against the CCP. It will be implemented after the NPC standing committee finalizes its drafting of the law.
At the presser, Lam deflected criticism about how she was given the power to appoint judges under the law, which critics have argued will undermine the city’s judicial independence.
She said that she will not handpick judges for every single national security case, but will appoint “a group of judges” to handle the cases under the law.
She added that her appointment will be based on recommendations from a local judicial body that advises her on such designations, as well as taking on advice from the city’s chief justice.
Lam also said the law does not rule out foreign judges hearing national security cases.
Lam’s remark on her selection of judges came after warnings raised by former Chief Justice Andrew Li in a statement to local newspapers.
Li said the power given to the chief executive would be “detrimental to the independence of the judicial independence,” according to the South China Morning Post.
He elaborated that a new national security commission, to be established under the law and chaired by the city’s chief executive, would “would make it inappropriate for him or her to make the choice on his or her own.”
Li also expressed concerns about how national security cases could be tried in mainland China under special circumstances, saying this “would undermine the independent judicial power which our courts are authorized to exercise under the [Hong Kong] Basic Law.”
On June 20, the NPC standing committee released some details of the law. It stated that Hong Kong will have jurisdiction over cases—except under ”specific circumstance”—and that China could have jurisdiction over an “extremely small” number of so-called national security cases.
Lam said that once the law is fully drafted and approved by the NPC, mainland Chinese officials—potentially officials from the Legislative Affairs Commission under the NPC standing commission—could visit Hong Kong to interpret the national security law.
On Monday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.), chairmen of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), said they were “deeply troubled” by the new details about the law.
“Each detail is worse than the next & allows Beijing to take jurisdiction over nat’l security cases & to establish a security office in #HongKong,” the two lawmakers wrote on Twitter.
They added: “Schools & social groups will face increased restrictions.”
The European Union also voiced concerns on Monday following the EU-China Summit, when President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, held a videoconference with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
The two European leaders expressed “grave concerns at steps taken by China” to impose the national security law, and that the stops are “not in conformity with the Hong Kong Basic Law and China’s international commitments,” according to a press release.
Focus News: Hong Kong Leader Defends Her Powers Granted Under Beijing’s New National Security Law