Safeguarding national security: Hong Kong completes its defenses

Editor's note: Grenville Cross, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a senior counsel and law professor and was previously director of public prosecutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has the mandate to "enact laws on its own" safeguarding national security. The HKSAR has taken the historic step of passing Article 23 into law, nearly 27 years after its reunification with the motherland in 1997. After a marathon debate, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) was enacted by the Legislative Council on March 19, and the country can now breathe more easily.

When an earlier such bill was proposed in 2003, it was abandoned after demonstrations organized by unpatriotic entities. A legal vacuum resulted, and this was ruthlessly exploited by anti-China forces, egged on by foreign powers.

After lawless elements paralyzed the city's streets in 2014, the insurrection of 2019 followed. Black-clad fanatics tried to wreck the "one country, two systems" principle, reduce the city to ashes, and provoke a confrontation with Beijing, and they caused great harm.

No country in the world would have tolerated a situation like that. The need for remedial measures was manifest, and Hong Kong now has the defenses it needs to ensure there is no recurrence. 

Although the enactment of the national security law for Hong Kong (NSL) in 2020 restored peace and stability, it did not purport to be comprehensive, and unfinished business remained.

With the expedited passage of the SNSO, Hong Kong now possesses the tools it needs to protect itself from those who wish it ill and want to harm its motherland.

Apart from updating existing laws like sedition, spying and treason, the SNSO provides extra protections. They include laws to combat insurrection, technological dangers, sabotage and foreign interference, and the city has now acquired a state-of-the-art defensive shield.

Hong Kong is not unique, and laws like this abound in other common law jurisdictions. In 2023, for example, the United Kingdom enacted its National Security Act, beefing up a dozen of its existing national security-related laws.

Although Western critics allege that Article 23 "threatens basic rights and freedoms," this could not be further from the truth. As with the NSL, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights will be protected in its application. This means that freedom of speech, of the press, of publication, of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration, which people enjoy under the Basic Law, will all be fully respected. 

Anybody charged with a criminal offense under the SNSO will also enjoy the fair trial guarantees of the common law world. They include the presumption of innocence, the right of defense, and the protection against double jeopardy.

Trials, moreover, will only ever be conducted in Hong Kong, and they will be presided over by an independent judiciary. A suspect will only be convicted if guilt is proved beyond reasonable doubt, and rights of appeal are constitutionally protected.

Freedom of expression and information is constitutionally protected, and Article 23 does not target social media platforms, like Facebook or YouTube. The only people who have anything to fear are those who misuse social media and spread messages that are inimical to national security. Anybody who lived through the black violence of 2019 to 2020 will appreciate why social media has to be responsibly conducted, and nobody in their right mind wants a repetition of the horrors of the recent past.

With the bill's enactment, Hong Kong can look to a brighter future, without being distracted by national security concerns. As the Chinese Vice-Premier, Ding Xuexiang, has explained, the swift enactment of the new legislation will protect "core national interests" and enable Hong Kong to focus on economic development.

Operating from a secure base, its people can concentrate on developing businesses, promoting trade, encouraging investment, widening horizons and spreading their wings, particularly in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Over many years, Hong Kong built a reputation as a financial center, an entrepot between the East and the West, and a transport hub, yet China's antagonists put all this in peril. With its national security arrangements completed, it can now get back to basics. It can also focus on developing its burgeoning capabilities as a technology and innovation center, contributing significantly to national progress.

Although there were previously concerns about what would happen to the "one country, two systems" principle in 2047, when the Basic Law's "50 years unchanged" provision concluded, they have now been put to rest. When President Xi Jinping visited the HKSAR in 2022, he declared "There is no reason to change such a good system, and it must be adhered to in the long run."

With its long-term future guaranteed and its national security apparatus in place, Hong Kong can now go from strength to strength. 

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