Congratulations, Hong Kong, for finally legislating Article 23 - South China Morning Post

Sometimes you wonder if foreign critics have been given the same script to criticise the latest security legislation, so they never bothered to read Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

The passage of the domestic national security law has taken almost 27 years, yet some of them described it as being “fast-tracked”. The new law will legislate Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s legal foundational document that came into effect on July 1, 1997.

Others claim the legislation is “bowing to Beijing”. Since there are 160 articles under the Basic Law, I suppose our critics can claim we have been “bowing to Beijing” 160 times since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.

You don’t get to pick and choose which constitutional provisions you will respect and legislate, and which to ignore and denigrate. Or at least that’s what Western societies claim as the basis of constitutionalism. But if it’s being done by some other societies to which they are antagonistic, their propagandists will enter a united front to claim you can’t do it, even if that’s how we do it. It’s the same old, “do as I say, not as I do”.

Hong Kong must fight blowback after passing Article 23 law: analysts

Now I can almost understand what Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung – the government’s point man to draft and push the legislation through – meant when he said he had “very mixed emotions”.

“I am of course excited to see my child – Article 23 – coming into the world soon,” he said. “But I am also a little bit emotional, as the bill has gone through so many trials and tribulations and miscarriages.”

I can’t, however, imagine the extreme pressure he and others must feel from foreign interference about the legislation, including being sanctioned by the United States – for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and human rights!

This is coming from the same government that has been aiding and abetting Israel to commit genocidal acts against Palestinians by supplying them with some of the most destructive weapons known to man. America’s murderous hypocrisy used to make me laugh. Now it just makes me sick to my stomach.

Credit goes where credit is due. Tang and Justice Secretary Paul Lam Ting-kwok played a pivotal role in pushing through Article 23 legislation in marathon sessions. Both men proved to be masters of detail as they patiently explained to lawmakers the intent and meaning of key provisions in the new law, and described possible scenarios for their benefit.

They have answered the call of duty and have done right by Hong Kong. We should be grateful to both men, and to some of those lawmakers who had diligently worked through the legislation clause by clause, including Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, who was security secretary when the government failed to pass Article 23 back in 2003.

There will inevitably be blowback and concerted smear campaigns from bad actors overseas.

Beijing slams Britain, EU for ‘smears and attacks’ on Hong Kong’s Article 23 law

Washington lawmakers also have proposed removing diplomatic privileges from the Hong Kong economic trade offices in the United States, while some have urged issuing higher level business and travel advisories against the city and imposing more sanctions on city officials.

Expect political pressure to be applied to international agencies to downgrade Hong Kong’s credit ratings and interfere with the city’s ability to participate in international events.

Passing Article 23 is the perfect opportunity for hostile foreign governments to exploit and distract the international community from the monstrous crimes they are committing or helping their allies to commit in the name of freedom and democracy.

Rightly, though, Ip said Hong Kong need not be afraid of attacks from hostile foreign powers.

“People who take actions against us or downgrade us or threaten sanctions against us, they will regret it, and we are not daunted by these threats,” she said.

We have bitten the bullet and ultimately, the good will outweigh the bad consequences.

It’s been a long time coming. Now the Basic Law is complete. Hong Kong can stand tall before the whole world. Don’t let malicious foreign actors tell you otherwise.

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Congratulations, Hong Kong, for finally legislating Article 23 - South China Morning Post
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