Ronny Tong says clauses of new national security law ‘more mild’ than expected

Executive Councilor Ronny Tong Ka-wah said clauses of Hong Kong‘s homegrown national security law, which proposes life sentence for treason and insurrection, are more mild compared to his expectations and defended the speed of the legislation saying that it doesn’t necessarily correlate to lawmakers being care-free. 

Tong also said the legislation has received opinions from the general public and can be in line with similar laws of foreign countries, adding the government’s work is acceptable. 

He personally thinks that the definitions for some of the clauses are not clear enough or are too broad. Still, he thinks the law as a whole is more stringent compared to those of the UK and the US. 

Tong also said although the government has fast tracked the legislation work in “god speed”, that doesn’t mean lawmakers have vetted the bill free of care, noticing that many raised some rather harsh and controversial discussions. 

He admitted that Article 23 is a very sensitive law and draws international attention. Yet, it is true that Hong Kong suffers slander from foreign governments, overseas politicians and media every day. 

If the legislation process takes a long period of time, political forces discontent with Hong Kong or China may have the chance to disrupt it, he added. 

Tong continued that he was surprised to see the SAR government accept the public interest defense, which is rejected in the case of the UK. 

Therefore, he was shocked that the SAR government took on the suggestion by the Hong Kong Bar Association for a more lenient approach on the defense. 

He said the law states relevant principles on respecting two UN human rights treaties as well as human rights protection under the Chinese constitution and the Basic Law, saying that Hongkongers can have confidence in this regard.