Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor. (Photo/Xinhua)
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor warned on Tuesday those who have smeared and demonized the proposed national security law, saying that by doing so, they are making themselves enemies of Hong Kong people.
The legislation has won support from the general public in Hong Kong, Lam said, stressing that the law is to secure the long-term stability and prosperity of the special administrative region.
Lam said objections to the proposed law are unfounded, and that foreign governments should accept the "constitutional and legitimate "power of the central government to enact such a law for the HKSAR, given how they put their own national security safeguards in place.
Speaking to reporters before the weekly Executive Council meeting, Lam said she has gained general support on the legislation during meetings with foreign consuls, chambers of commerce and other commercial organizations.
She also said that nearly 3 million Hong Kong residents signed a petition to support the legislation during a 10-day signature campaign. People support the legislation because they abhor the yearlong street violence and foreign interference, Lam said.
She pledged that the SAR government will keep listening to feedback and concerns from various sectors over the legislation, and relay them to the central government.
Lam reiterated that even though the legislation is drafted under the mainland's legal system, it shares legal principles with Hong Kong's common law system, such as the presumption of innocence and no double jeopardy.
She called on the public not to worry about future implementation of the law, stressing that it will be in strict accordance with legal principles, and the only objective is to better protect Hong Kong and the whole country.
Spread of hate speech
During a Basic Law seminar on Monday, Anthony Carty, chair of public law at the University of Hong Kong, said national security legislation is necessitated by the violence in Hong Kong since June of last year, "which has gone beyond what one can expect a reasonable police force "to handle.
Nations claiming that China's attempt to introduce the law is to abolish Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy have disregarded the Basic Law of Hong Kong and the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Carty said. Such allegations are unfounded and reflect their turning a blind eye to the social unrest in Hong Kong, he added.
Carty said sharp attacks and hate speech against the central and the HKSAR governments have also spread globally. He stressed that international law prohibits any intervention or any form of interference in the internal affairs of one country by another.
In another development, some labor groups in Hong Kong were advocating a "referendum" on citywide strikes at schools and at work against the national security legislation.
In a social media post on Monday, Lam said students should not be used to achieve political ends and campuses should be free from politics. Lam said it was worrying that politics have taken control of campuses, which should be places for students to build character, recognize their national identity, cultivate law-abiding awareness and happily learn.
Ill-intentioned people have instilled biases and spread hate speech against the government and the nation, resulting in thousands of secondary school students being arrested for breaking the law and publicly advocating separatism, Lam said. The community should condemn those who instigated students to boycott school or participate in so-called strikes, Lam said.
