Legal experts raise concerns over ‘vague’ intent conditions in Hong Kong’s domestic national security law, but others assure burden of proof will be high

Hong Kong’s coming domestic national security law will consider “intent” as a key factor in determining violations, raising concerns among some legal and political science scholars who say the term in the proposal is “ambiguous” and may give judges significant leeway in interpretation, but others assure there will be a high burden of proof.

The government’s 110-page consultation paper to legislate Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which requires the city to enact its own security legislation, repeatedly mentions “intentions” which could endanger national security.