Govt condemns smearing and irresponsible statements against Article 23 legislation

The SAR government firmly opposed and strongly condemned a joint statement made by "Hong Kong Watch" and other organizations on the Basic Law Article 23 legislation.

"The joint statement smacks of deliberate smears and is no further from the truth," the government spokesman said. "The HKSAR Government must refute and set the record straight."

The spokesman said the organizations completely disregarded relevant laws of the countries in which they are situated and "made skewed remarks that the SAR government's legislative proposals on Article 23 undermined human rights, exposing their sheer hypocrisy and double standards."

He added that the remarks on the offenses relating to seditious intention in the joint statement, which alleged that offenses relating to seditious intention would criminalize peaceful criticisms against the government, are "clearly wrong" and "amounted to scaremongering."

"It intentionally ignored paragraph 4.8 of the consultation document, which proposed circumstances that do not constitute 'seditious intention.'" 

The SAR government added that making reasonable and genuine criticisms of government policies based on objective facts, pointing out issues, or offering views for improvement will not violate offenses relating to sedition intention.

The spokesman said that the joint statement appeals to foreign chambers of commerce and international companies to re-evaluate risks, and even requests to impose so-called "sanctions" on officials handling the legislation "totally disrespects the constitutional duty of the HKSAR and blatantly tramples on the legislative process of the HKSAR." 

The spokesman stated that the interferes through intimidation in the affairs of Hong Kong "not only violates the international law and basic norms that govern international relations, but also allegedly constitutes the offense of "collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security" under Article 29 of the National Security Law."

"What the joint statement advocates squarely reflects the ongoing national security threats which anti-China and destabilizing forces pose," the spokesman stressed. "The government will complete the legislative exercise as early as possible to plug the relevant national security loopholes.