HKSAR gov't official calls for understanding national security legislation from perspective of constitutional order

An official of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said on Tuesday the legal process of the national legislature to introduce national security legislation for Hong Kong is enshrined in law, justified in logic and reasonable in the circumstances of the current situation.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng noted in an online article that Hong Kong again saw violent incidents last weekend after the draft decision on national security legislation was announced by the National People's Congress.

The NPC is the highest organ of state power, and the NPC and its standing committee exercise the legislative power of the state to introduce laws and other legal instruments, Cheng said, adding that the NPC delegated its standing committee the duty to make the national security law applicable to the HKSAR.

She said national security is a matter of national interest that concerns the whole population of China and falls squarely within the purview of the central authorities, noting that national security is never part of Hong Kong's autonomy.

Cheng stressed that it is fundamental to recognize that the central authorities hold the ultimate responsibility for national security in all local administrative regions, adding that a delegation of power by the principal to the delegatee is not an abrogation or abdication of the responsibility and power of the principal.

The enactment of the national security law by the NPC Standing Committee and the addition of such law to Annex III of the Basic Law to be promulgated by the HKSAR is in compliance with Article 18(3) and is not in any way in conflict with Article 23 of the Basic Law, Cheng said.

Accordingly, the draft decision and the passage by the NPC Standing Committee of the national laws is in compliance with the "one country, two systems" principle as encapsulated in the Constitution and the Basic Law, Cheng said.