Release draft of the Hong Kong national security law for meaningful debate
- Without the wording, it is unclear how it will work or how profound its impact will be on the people of Hong Kong
Beijing is pushing ahead with its national security law for Hong Kong at a breathtaking pace. The National People’s Congress passed a resolution requiring its Standing Committee to enact the legislation less than a month ago. A draft was considered by the committee for the first time last week. But it will convene again on Sunday and the law, which aims to stop subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with external forces, is expected to be passed by the end of the month.
This is a national law and the procedures may not be familiar in Hong Kong. But there has been little time for the city to come to terms with the fast-moving and far-reaching developments.
The biggest concern is that the draft of the law has not yet been made public. Without the wording, it is unclear how it will work or how profound its impact will be. Meaningful feedback cannot be provided until the details are known. It has been suggested releasing the draft would allow opponents to mobilise or flee. But there is not much the opposition can do with so little time left.
A summary of the draft was released through state media on Saturday. It set out a broad framework, but also raised concerns. There was reassurance the law would not curb Hong Kong’s freedoms and would mostly be enforced by the city’s authorities. But other areas raise uncertainties.
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The chief executive will lead a new national security commission, featuring an adviser from the central government. Beijing will also set up a national security commissioner’s office in Hong Kong. The role of the two commissions needs to be further explained.
The chief executive will select judges to hear security cases, raising concerns about the independence of the judiciary. Beijing appears to have accepted that there should be no ban on foreign judges hearing the cases. But it needs to spell out how this new selection process will work.
The prospect of a “tiny”number of exceptional cases being handled by the mainland rather than Hong Kong courts also needs more clarification. In what circumstances will this happen? Will the criteria be clearly specified in the law? And the possibility that the law might operate retrospectively should not be left in doubt.
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The Standing Committee’s rules do not require it to publish the draft. But releasing the details would further inform debate and ease concerns.
Beijing may feel there is no point in reaching out to its hardline opponents. Certainly, there are sharp political divisions in the city. But there are also many who would engage constructively with Beijing in seeking to improve the draft and make the law more acceptable to the community. The central government should reach out to those sectors.
The legislation will soon be passed, with time for feedback short. Beijing should release the draft as soon as possible.
