Civil servants, from cleaners to policymakers, will need to fulfil their duty to identify national security breaches under new guidelines that will soon be released, Hong Kong’s security chief has said.
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Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said that even though Hong Kong had returned to stability after the 2019 anti-government protests, national security risks remained as Western countries continued to use the city as an avenue to blockade China.
“External forces, like the West, in a bid to oppress us, will use Hong Kong for acts of blockade and suppression on our country. That won’t change under the current geopolitical climate,” Tang said, citing a white paper on national security issued by the State Council, the country’s cabinet, last month.
The paper accused “external forces” and “certain individual countries” of posing threats to the mainland’s security, including stirring up trouble in Hong Kong.
Tang’s comments come as the national security law approaches its fifth anniversary at the end of this month. The Beijing-imposed law came into effect on June 30, 2020, and criminalises secession, subversion, terrorist activities and collusion with foreign forces.
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Hong Kong passed its own domestic national security legislation, also known as Article 23, in March last year. The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance covers 39 offences divided into five categories: treason; insurrection, incitement to mutiny and disaffection, and acts with seditious intention; sabotage; external interference; and theft of state secrets and espionage.