Q： At the two sessions, the Central government has shown staunch support for Hong Kong to speed up the enactment of Article 23 of Basic Law. Any comments on recent criticism against Article 23, like “more restrictions on civil liberties”?
CY Leung：All societies and all countries have laws similar to what Hong Kong now enacting under Article 23 of our mini constitution which is our Basic Law. To put everything into context, I think it’s useful to firstly compare what Hong Kong is now proposing to what before 1997 when Hong Kong was governed by the British Hong Kong colonial government, what they actually practiced in those days.
Past detainees deported without trials under British rule
People of my generation, were born, brought up and lived in Hong Kong, have vivid memories of how’s the Special Branch which was a force attached to the Police Department in Hong Kong by the British government in Hong Kong, vested with wide powers of arresting and detaining people that they considered as the threats to the national security of the UK in Hong Kong. And these people included Hong Kong residents, mainland Chinese residents, Taiwan residents and Soviet Union residents. These detention facilities were located in a place in the western part of Hong Kong Island called Mount Davies and the building is still there. In local Cantonese it’s called “白屋”, literally translated as “White House”. The detainees were detained without trial. They didn’t get a chance to see a judge, and then they were deported after sometimes long and sometimes short period of detention. So comparison between what we are proposing now to what with what British government actually did before 1997 would be very useful.
Defendants will be tried by independent judiciary in HK
Secondly in the same time frame, comparing what Hong Kong is proposing now to what other countries already have in their statue books, whether in the USA, the United Kingdom, or closer to home, Japan, Korean or Singapore. A lot of people like to compare Hong Kong-Singapore, Singapore-Hong Kong, so Singapore might be a good starting point. Singapore has internal security act. Last year they enacted the foreign interference counter measure act. Under this act, which is new, it’s up to a minister to decide whether someone should be designated as a politically acceptable person, acceptable to foreign interference. Under the proposed Hong Kong law, all who are accused of committing an offense under the law will be tried by a judge in our independent judiciary.
No capital punishment in Hong Kong
We can also compare the question of penalties. Hong Kong doesn’t have capital punishment. And we know in Asia, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore, they all have capital punishment.
Q：What Hong Kong should do facing ongoing attacks from anti-China forces?
CY Leung：I think it’s everyone’s consensus, nowadays, not just Hong Kong, but all countries, societies and Hong Kong live in an increasingly competitive and increasingly complex environment.
So I think we should be objective. We should not be influenced by politically oriented commentaries. Whether these commentaries are from politicians outside Hong Kong or commentaries by not impartial media in the west.
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