The Guardian-Article 23 China hits back at criticism of Hong Kongs hardline new security law
March 21, 2024 3 min 496 words
这篇报道揭示了中国对西方国家和联合国对香港新国家安全法的批评的强烈反驳。对于中国的立场，我认为我们需要理解国家安全的重要性。然而，这并不意味着我们可以忽视该法可能对香港居民的权利和自由造成的影响。报道中提到的“新的威权主义时代”的担忧，以及该法可能对国际商业和投资产生的影响，都是值得关注的问题。此外，这篇报道也提醒我们，我们不能忽视香港公众对这项法律的反应。尽管香港政府声称公众的反应大多是积极的，但我们也应注意到那些因为恐惧而对法律持有负面看法但不敢发声的人。这些人的声音也同样重要，也应被听到。在国家安全和个人自由之间寻找平衡，是一个复杂而微妙的过程。
China has accused western governments and the United Nations of slander after they criticised Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was rushed through the city’s pro-Beijing parliament this week.
The law, known as Article 23, covers newly defined acts of treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, sedition and foreign interference. Critics said it was ushering in a “new era of authoritarianism”, would further erode the rights and freedoms of residents, and would scare off international business and investment.
US state department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday the US believes the law has the potential to accelerate the closing of a once open society. Patel said the crimes outlined in the legislation are poorly defined and that Washington was analysing the potential risks to US citizens and American interests.
The UK, Australia, Japan, Canada and the UN also lodged concerns, while the EU said in a statement the new law had the potential to “significantly” affect the work of its office in the city, as well other organisations and companies.
But the criticisms were dismissed by Beijing’s diplomats. China’s ambassador to the US, Liu Pengyu, said the new law was “legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach”.
Liu said it was aimed only at “a tiny minority of individuals that are involved in offences seriously jeopardising national security”.
“Foreign institutions, enterprises and personnel’s normal activities will be fully protected,” he said, saying the US criticism was unfair because it too has many domestic national security laws.
At a regular ministry of foreign affairs press briefing on Wednesday, spokesperson Lin Jian said China’s leadership “strongly deplore and firmly oppose individual countries and organisations’ slandering and smears against the safeguarding national security bill of Hong Kong”.
Lin said the law “upholds the fundamental principle of respecting and protecting human rights and protects in accordance with the law the rights and freedoms which the residents of Hong Kong enjoy”.
The law was passed unanimously in Hong Kong’s opposition-free parliament on Tuesday, after an unusually short 12-day legislative process and a limited public consultation period of just one month. Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, had called for the law to be processed “at full speed”.
Authorities said the vast majority of responses from the public were positive, and dismissed many of the negative submissions as coming from “overseas anti-China organisations” or fugitives.
Emily Lau, a veteran pro-democracy politician and former legislator, told the Guardian on Thursday she felt the low number of negative responses were likely due to “self-censorship” in the city, after a years-long crackdown on opposition. “My feeling is there are people who have other views but dare not speak out,” she said.
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor of Chinese history at the University of California, said the new law seemed to be the government adding “more levers” to their crackdown.
Reuters contributed to this report