National security spending 'has to be a secret'

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said the SAR administration has refused to disclose details of national security expenditure to prevent people from speculating and attacking their work.

Funds allocated to this area of policing has hit HK$13 billion since the national security law was implemented on June 30, 2020, but how it was spent remains unknown.

Tang said yesterday national security work was confidential and people would not even know whether the HK$13 billion has been all spent.

"The tricky point is that people don't know whether we have used the money or how much we have spent. We will apply for more funds when needed so that people cannot speculate or attack our national security work," he said, adding that the law states that all work combating activities endangering national security should be kept a secret.

"Combating national security crime is a serious matter and highly confidential. All countries do not disclose details of their national security work, including the spending, to the public," Tang said.

"If we disclose any details, people can find out our operations targeting national security crimes according to the expenditure, which is definitely not good for safeguarding security."

However, Tang said the administration submits a report on expenditure to the Legislative Council every year.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po submitted a report to Legco on expenditure this month, which stated that the SAR set aside HK$8 billion for national security in December 2020, and another HK$5 billion this March.

As the expenditure must be kept confidential, the report only included two categories - recurrent expenditure including salaries, subsidies, rent and other operational costs and non-recurrent costs such as spending on small construction projects, equipment and vehicles.

The government also said the secretariat of a committee for safeguarding national security has a designated financial unit to handle financial matters and reports to the financial secretary.

Chan has also reviewed the financial report for national security operations last year.