HK security legislation ‘justified’

Editor’s note: The following is the full content of the retired judge’s open letter expressing his views on the proposed national security legislation for Hong Kong.IN Hong Kong there is a set of laws, inherited from the colonial government, dealing in a haphazard way with some of the complex issues involving national security. These can be found in Part I of the Crimes Ordinance, the Societies Ordinance and the Official Secrets Ordinance.

No one pretends that these laws are anywhere near adequate to deal with the complicated matters of today. This problem was recognised by the drafters of the Basic Law: Hence Article 23. This required the Hong Kong SAR government, upon being established on July 1, 1997, to enact laws to prohibit treason, secession, sedition, subversion, prohibition of foreign entities forming political alliances with entities in Hong Kong.