Hong Kong riot rekindles talk of national security law

The recent riot in Hong Kong has sparked another round of debates over revisiting a basic law article on national security. Article 23 of Hong Kong's Basic Law, which stipulates that Hong Kong shall "enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government," has gained wide attention. The legislation process of Article 23 is not likely to be accelerated by the Mong Kok riot, Lau Siu-kai, a vice-chairman of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told media on Saturday, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. But it is better for Hong Kong to legislate Article 23 as early as possible now that Beijing is attaching more importance to national security when considering the problems in Hong Kong, Lau noted. Ho Kwan-yiu, the former president of the Law Society of Hong Kong, also said in a forum on Sunday that it is time for Hong Kong to legislate Article 23, Hong Kong-based Sing Tao Daily reported Sunday. "If unrest is caused by politics, the central government will not sit back and do nothing," Gu Minkang, the associate dean of the School of Law of City University of Hong Kong, told the Global Times on Sunday. "In the long term, the enactment of Article 23 is an unavoidable issue," Gu said. Riot not related Responding to the earlier riot in Mong Kok during the lunar new year holidays, Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, on Sunday condemned "the increasingly violent activities of the radical separatists, who have even showed a tendency toward terrorism." Zhang noted that the Hong Kong people will not tolerate "the most precious legal system of Hong Kong" being destroyed by a few rioters, stressing that a consensus has been reached by the people that chaos is not acceptable, according to Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television. When asked whether legislating Article 23 will be pushed forward due to the riot, Zhang said that "the two incidents are not related." Experts say the Mong Kok riot was less about national security, echoing the view of Zhang. "Consisting of crimes and other unlawful behavior, the riot harmed legal order and social stability within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region instead of national security, which involves Article 23," Zou Pingxue, vice dean of the Law School of Shenzhen University, told the Global Times on Sunday. Beijing will not put pressure on the Hong Kong government to legislate Article 23 as the One Country, Two Systems policy will not be influenced by the challenges that Hong Kong faces in the implementation of the Basic Law, such as the Occupy Central movement and the Mong Kok riot, according to Zou. Future legislation Zhang Dinghuai, a researcher at the Contemporary Chinese Politics Research Institute of Shenzhen University, said the central government will not ask to legislate Article 23 for now. "In the long run, the government is not likely to push for legislating Article 23," Zhu Shihai, a scholar specializing in the study of Hong Kong at the Macao University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times. Zhu said since Hong Kong's economy is not doing well, strengthening the power of the government on national security may have a negative impact on Hong Kong's social stability. In 2002 and 2003, the Hong Kong government tried to legislate Article 23, but was strongly opposed. Although Zhang Xiaoming's attitude to some extent eased Hong Kong society's concerns over legislating Article 23, "such remarks do not mean the issue will not be put on the agenda in the future," according to Gu. It is unwise for the current government to push for legislation considering the upcoming 2017 Hong Kong leadership election, Gu said. "If Leung Chun-ying is re-elected Hong Kong leader, he will face less pressure [in legislating Article 23]," Gu told the Global Times. On Saturday, Hong Kong security chief Lai Tung-kwok said the riot has not changed the stance of the current Hong Kong government on the enactment of Article 23.