Chief Executive John Lee held a press conference yesterday to announce the official launch of a one-month public consultation on the legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law. **The consultation document released on the same day covers 5 categories of acts and activities that are not addressed by the National Security Law, including treason, sedition, theft*** prohibiting foreign political organizations from conducting political activities in Hong Kong, prohibiting Hong Kong political organizations from establishing ties with foreign political organizations, and adding the offences of overseas interference and endangering through computer or electronic systems. The consultation paper is comprehensive, clearly sets out the problems and legislative proposals facing Hong Kong, cites the relevant experience of common law countries, and responds to the concerns of the community.
Article 23 legislation is the constitutional responsibility of the HKSAR, the Basic Law expressly stipulates that the HKSAR shall legislate on its own, and the 528 Decision of the National People's Congress and the National Security Law all emphasize the need to complete the 23 pieces of legislation as soon as possible. It took 26 years after Hong Kong's return to the motherland to complete the 23-article legislation, which has not yet been completed, and now, everything has been completed, and it is waiting for the final kick in the door, and the whole Hong Kong must work together to support the SAR ** to complete the legislative work as soon as possible.
The consultation document released yesterday provides a detailed and easy-to-understand introduction to why legislation should be enacted, the principles, rationale and philosophy of legislation, as well as the content of the legislative proposals for the five offences not covered by the National Security Law and the two new offences, as well as the improvement of the legal system and enforcement mechanisms. The content is very comprehensive and clear.
There is also a Q&A section on the Security Bureau's website to respond to some of the issues of concern to the community and the public. At the same time, it is accompanied by a chart commonly known as a lazy bag, which uses concise language and charts to allow the public to quickly understand the basic points of the legislation. There are also relevant promotional videos in the multi** information. In addition, the Chief Executive took the initiative to explain, respond to questions and clarify the facts when he attended various occasions in person, the Legislative Council members participated in the deliberations, and the District Council members assisted in explaining the matters in the district, which made people feel that the legislative consultation was fully prepared.
The one-month public consultation period is sufficient for all sectors of the community and members of the public concerned about the legislation to fully understand the content of the legislation, and also to provide sufficient time for comments and suggestions to **. All sectors of the community should grasp the one-month consultation period and raise questions and opinions on the content they are concerned about, and there are many channels for asking questions and reflecting opinions, which can not only communicate directly with the authorities, but also express through Legislative Council members and district councillors, and can also express their opinions from the channels of **, so as to help ** fully grasp public opinion.
* After the publication of the consultation paper, some concerns have been raised in the discussion around the consultation paper, such as the definition of "state secret" that the media industry is concerned about, whether there will be cases of inaction by practitioners in the industry, and whether there can be a "substantial public interest" as a ground for exemption from liability. Some people also have doubts about the proposed new offence of "overseas interference" and are worried that it will affect normal exchanges and cooperation with overseas.
The concern and doubts about these contents in the community are largely due to the fact that Hong Kong society has had little exposure to these issues in the past. For example, as far as the definition of "state secret" is concerned, the term "state secret" is not used in the current "Regulations on Official Secrets", and the "Regulations on Official Secrets" only protects a few specific types of confidential information, including the media, and the general public has little access to such informationto dispel doubts.
Another example, the offence of extraterritorial interference, which is also a proposed new offence, is aimed at cooperating with external forces in using improper means to interfere with the formulation or implementation of measures affecting ** or the SAR**, interfering in elections, influencing the performance of the functions of the Legislative Council and the courts, or harming the relationship between ** and the HKSAR, or harming the relations between China or the HKSAR and any foreign country. However, since this is a new legislative proposal, there are many details in it, and it is difficult for the public to fully understand the relevant content in a short period of time by relying only on a few paragraphs in the consultation document, and it is necessary for the authorities to provide more explanations during the consultation period.
Article 23 legislation, involving the very complex maintenance of the specific needs and realities of the situation, the legislative proposal involves the "Basic Law" Article 23 of the 5 types of crimes, but also in response to the needs of the changing times, the new crime of foreign intervention, through computer or electronic systems to endanger the crime, the content is very large, the professional is very high, the authorities have made sufficient and complete preparations for the legislative work, in the face of the public consultation period, must also be on the content of the legislative proposal, to the public to make a full explanation, Let the majority of citizens correctly understand the significance of legislation and support the early completion of legislative work.