Hong Kong held a raft of events across the city on Monday to mark National Security Education Day, with a top Beijing official saying the city should prioritise economic development after the recent passage of a new security law.
At Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, a colourful carnival featured exhibitions about national security and the police’s counter-terrorism vehicles.
Chan Kwai-lan, an insurance worker in her 40s volunteering at the carnival, said the city’s efforts to safeguard national security were “good, very good.”
“At least everyone is living in peace and working happily, and the economy is better than before,” Chan said, speaking in Cantonese.
Hong Kong enacted new, homegrown legislation last month on top of the one Beijing imposed in 2020 after the anti-extradition protests. The new law – known locally as Article 23 – targets crimes including insurrection and sabotages, with some offences carrying a maximum penalty of life behind bars.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities have cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest to justify the legislation.
Speaking via a video link from Beijing on Monday, Xia Baolong, the director of Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, said the city could “go all out on economic development” now that security legislation had put an end to political disputes and unrest.
All 18 districts of the city held events to mark the occasion, including exhibitions, seminars, drama performances, film screening, and sport competitions.
In Wong Tai Sin Square, a giant installation of mosaic blocks featured 20 areas of national security – such as food security and data security – under a framework Chinese President Xi Jinping introduced in 2014 called the “holistic approach to national security.”
In Yau Ma Tei, around a hundred secondary school students attended a drama performance about national security organised by the Yau Tsim Mong district care team.
Speaking at a community seminar in Sai Ying Pun on Monday, Executive Councillor Ronny Tong said people would not be prosecuted under Article 23 if they did not intend to endanger national security.
“If you intuitively believe that something does not pose a risk to national security – even if it is a state secret – you won’t be guilty, because you did not have the intent,” he said in Cantonese, referring to the law’s criminalising of unlawful acquisition, possession and disclosure of “state secrets.”
He added that information accessible online would not be considered a state secret.
International business chambers have expressed concerns over “vague” definitions of state secrets in the law and a lack of clarity on where the “red lines” might lie.
Tong added that the law would take into account whether information was obtained through illegal means and whether it was disseminated with intent to endanger national security.
Separately, Ronny Tong said that universal suffrage – a principle enshrined in the city’s constitution – could not be implemented without convincing Beijing that elections would not endanger national security.
“We have to consider the actual situation. If we are to hold elections in Hong Kong… the first thing that we need is for our country to be at peace,” he told residents and students at the seminar. “What if we hold elections that carry a risk of national security? That is exactly the debate that we’ve had all along.”
He was responding to a question from an audience member on whether Hong Kong would implement Article 45 of the Basic Law, which states that the city’s Chief Executive is to be elected “by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures.”
The audience member also asked about Article 68, which stipulates that the city’s legislature would also be elected through universal suffrage.
Recounting the early days of the now-disbanded Civic Party, a pro-democracy party that Tong co-founded but left in 2015, he said one of his main goals then was to convince Beijing that free elections would not pose a national security risk. “Unfortunately, I failed,” he said.
“I hope we can achieve this, but building trust isn’t something that can be done in a day,” he said. “We need to consider that the central government is Hong Kong’s most important stakeholder. If you don’t convince them, how can Hong Kong have elections?”
At Victoria Park, kids posed for pictures with police’s anti-terrorism officers in front of armoured vehicles, as their parents told HKFP they learned about the event from school notices and media coverage.
“It’s a good thing to bring my kid to understand [national security],” said 40-year-old Sarah Leung, whose five-year-old children was jumping around excitedly near the police’s display.
“Under the premise of stability… I think I support [Article 23], as I hope the whole territory can be prosperous and stable,” she added, speaking in Cantonese.
Chan, the insurance worker, said people did not have to be afraid if they did not commit a crime.
She said she felt unsafe during the protests and unrest in 2019, when demonstrations against a controversial extradition bill ballooned into a wider display of opposition against the Hong Kong and Beijing governments.
Article 23 legislation had improved social order, Chan added.
She also urged an HKFP reporter to bring “positive energy” to the society.
“Your media should promote positivity to young people… we are from the same nation after all, if they are discontent about anything, they should make changes in lawful ways.”
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