Liaison boss in article 23 signal

Leaving loopholes in the national safety mechanism will allow foreign forces to sabotage one country, two systems, central government liaison office chief Luo Huining said in a commentary published in the state-run People's Daily.

Luo stressed that defending national integrity and security is Hong Kong's responsibility and that having an accurate understanding of one country, two systems is a vital requirement for long-term stability.

Pointing out that safeguarding the country's sovereignty, security and development is a basic constitutional responsibility and political requirement for the SARs, he warned: "If the national security system and mechanism are absent for a long time in the SARs, external forces would be able to infiltrate and sabotage the regions without any hesitation, leading to extremely high risks of impacting and destroying the implementation of one country, two systems."

Luo also noted that Macau's government and people have a high degree of consensus and awareness about protecting national security: "There is only the responsibility of one country, and no distinction between the two systems."

He expressed support for the Hong Kong administration. "As always, we support the Hong Kong government in establishing and improving the legal system and its enforcement mechanism, as well as strengthening law enforcement forces to make up for shortcomings in Hong Kong's one country, two systems," he said.

Although Luo did not acknowledge Article 23 of the Basic Law, Bruce Lui Ping-kuen, a China watcher and senior lecturer at Baptist University, said: "We could say this article [by Luo] is actually paving the way for the SAR government to legislate article 23 of the Basic Law."

Lui said that even if the legislation could not be done in the meantime, Luo's article is urging the Hong Kong government to plug the loopholes with other measures, such as Macau's National Security Commission that Luo might want to adopt in Hong Kong.

As the former propaganda chief for Anhui, Luo is better at promoting the central government's agenda than his predecessor, Wang Zhimin, with more authority and better execution, according to Lui.

"This article shows that despite a change in personnel, the central government's policy toward Hong Kong remains unchanged, and the liaison office is now taking the lead for Hong Kong government to work in accordance," he said.