Legislating Article 23 of the Basic Law would not undermine, in anyway, the existing human rights and civil liberties enjoyed by the people of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Chief Executive Tung Cheehwa said on Tuesday.
Nor would the SAR's existing way of life be affected, Tung told the media shortly after a consultation paper on Article 23 legislation was made public.
The Executive Council's decision Tuesday to publish the consultation paper set in motion the process for Hong Kong to outlaw seven offences which threaten national security.
"It is thus our duty to proceed with the enactment of the legislation," Tung said. "In fact, it is the community's collective duty to protect national security."
He stressed that the fulfillment of the constitutional duty to protect national security is the foundation for the SAR's successful implementation of "one country, two systems."
To allay fears that legislating Article 23 may compromise, among other things, the freedom of expression, Tung pledged to protect human rights and civil liberties, the two pillars, as the chief executive put it, of Hong Kong's success.
He further explained that the legislation proposals put forward by the government are fully consistent with the Basic Law, the Human Rights Ordinance and the two international covenants as applied to Hong Kong.
Tung was referring to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Before coming up with the proposals, the government has conducted a comparative study of similar laws in many Western countries, said the chief executive describing Hong Kong's package as liberal and reasonable.
Article 23 was about the protection of sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and national security.
The offences listed under Article 23 came under the genre of offences against the State. Such offences were highly serious in nature because of the threat they posed to the fundamental well being of the State, Secretary for Security Regina Ip told a press conference Tuesday.
She said extremely tight definitions of targeted offences, such as treason, secession, subversion and sedition, had been proposed so as to avoid uncertainties regarding possible infringement of fundamental human rights and freedoms, in particular the freedom of expression.
(China Daily September 25, 2002)
