Experts interpret the core of the draft national security legislation involving Hong Kong
[Global Times reporter Bai Yunyi Fan Lingzhi Zhao Juehan Chen Qingqing Yang Sheng] The head of the Legislative Affairs Working Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on the 18th made a presentation on the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Maintenance of National Security (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) "Draft"" (hereinafter referred to as "Draft"). Several experts analyzed in an interview with the Global Times that the content of the "Draft" fully reflects the central government's maximum trust and reliance on the SAR government to protect Hong Kong's human rights and the rule of law, taking into account the characteristics of Hong Kong's common law system and ensuring the effective implementation of the law, "Yes The legal arrangement with the least impact and the greatest benefit."
Guidance and supervision of the National Security Office in Hong Kong
According to the provisions of the "Draft", the Central People's Government established the National Security Agency in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In an interview with the Global Times, Liu Zhaojia, deputy chairman of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association, said that the unrest in the past year has fully demonstrated that the SAR itself lacks the experience, ability, legal system and enforcement mechanism to maintain national security. Therefore, the National Security Agency in Hong Kong will guide and supervise the SAR government to implement its responsibility to maintain national security. Liu Zhaojia said that another important purpose of the National Security Agency in Hong Kong is to "play a deterrent role."
Deng Fei, a Hong Kong political commentator and former chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Educators, told reporters that the establishment of the National Security Agency in Hong Kong has referenced the design of the security system in Britain and the United States. "The U.S. states and cities have their own police, but some major cases involve the FBI." He said that the work of the National Security Agency in Hong Kong is mainly focused on research, judgment, guidance, and supervision, similar to the United Kingdom. "In the specific national security incidents of the UK’s major national security agencies, if there is a collusion between a person and a foreign intelligence officer, they generally notify the British police to enforce the law, rather than directly on their own. When the Central People’s Republic of China has enacted the National Security Act for the port area, it is by no means a simple matter With the arrangement to move directly to Hong Kong, this also fully demonstrates the advantages of'one country, two systems'."
The chief executive is Guoan's "first responsible person"
According to the provisions of the "Draft", the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region establishes a National Security Committee, which will be chaired by the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region. At the same time, the committee will also establish a national security affairs consultant, appointed by the Central People's Government.
Tian Feilong, a member of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association and an associate professor at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Law School, told the Global Times that the establishment of the Special Security Committee for the National Security Committee shows that the central government intends to use the authorization mechanism to stimulate and mobilize existing forces in Hong Kong. Complete the law enforcement tasks of national security.
Liu Zhaojia believes that the establishment of the committee is aimed at avoiding the previous situation where a single department bears all the pressure. "With the development of the times, the forms of national security threats are becoming more and more diversified, not only at the political level, but also at various levels such as the economy, finance, society, and culture. A single government department cannot complete it on its own."
The Draft stipulates that the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall appoint a number of judges from the current or qualified former magistrates, district court judges, judges of the Court of First Instance of the High Court, judges of the Court of Appeal and judges of the Court of Final Appeal. The judges appointed by the committee are responsible for handling crimes that endanger national security. In this regard, Deng Fei analyzed that this is not to distrust the Chief Justice of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, but because the chief executive is the "first responsible person" to implement the "Basic Law" and maintain national security.
Gu Minkang, a director of the National Hong Kong and Macao Research Association and a senior adviser to the Hong Kong Law Exchange Foundation, believes that “delegating the appointment power to the chief executive will ensure that the judges hearing national security cases respect China’s national security and have patriotic sentiment, perhaps more than directly prohibiting foreign judges from trying national security cases. More effective".
"The political authority of the Hong Kong chief executive will increase in the future and will also play a more important constitutional role." Li Xiaobing, executive director of the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macao Law Research Center of Nankai University, told the Global Times that the governance structure of the SAR will be strengthened in the future The status of administrative dominance, "this can be said to be an important historical moment in Hong Kong's constitutional order reshaping."
"General" belongs to the SAR, "Special" belongs to the Central Government
The "Draft" clearly divides the responsibility and authority of the central government and the special economic zone for safeguarding national security affairs: the central people's government has fundamental responsibility for national security affairs, and the special economic zone has constitutional responsibility for maintaining national security. Specifically, the National Security Agency in Hong Kong and relevant state agencies exercise jurisdiction over a very small number of crimes against national security under certain circumstances.
Tan Yaozong, member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, told the Global Times reporter that due to the “stigmatization” of the National Security Law by some people, some Hong Kong people had previously worried that they would “pull to the Mainland for trial”, “send directly to judges in the Mainland” and even “put Hong Kong people are locked in the mainland." "None of these will happen, and only a few cases that cannot be handled by the SAR mechanism will be exercised by the central government." He analyzed that the "Draft" essentially divides Hong Kong-related national security legislation into general jurisdiction and special jurisdiction. The general jurisdiction will cover most of the cases, and Hong Kong local authorities are authorized to be responsible. And when the case exceeds Hong Kong’s local law enforcement capabilities, causing excessive impact on Hong Kong’s local rule of law and social order, or encountering unprecedented pressure on intelligence gathering, case detection, and trial, the central government will have to bear special jurisdictional responsibilities .
So, should cases that involve national security matters in the “revisions of the law” from last year to now belong to general jurisdiction or special jurisdiction? Tian Feilong believes that the "revision of the law" conforms to the latter situation, and the cases in it do not fall within the scope of the law. The "revision of the law" is not a "past incident", but a "progress". "A large number of cases accumulated by the "revision of the storm" are still in the judicial process. Many investigations have not been completed, and its harm to the rule of law and national security in Hong Kong continues."
Deng Fei believes that the "revision of the case" includes both national security cases and criminal crimes. If it is clearly determined that foreign diplomats with foreign powers, especially diplomatic immunity, are involved, it means that it is already difficult to deal with at the SAR level and requires central intervention. He also reminded that diplomacy exempt personnel usually can only be expelled from the law, but once national security is involved, it may not be completely exempt, which will involve more complicated diplomatic and international law issues. At this time, it is expected that the national level will take action.
According to Tan Yaozong to the Global Times reporter, this NPC Standing Committee meeting has conducted a first review of the draft of the national security legislation involving Hong Kong. The legislative process has listened to the views of the SAR government and all levels of society, taking into account the common law system of Hong Kong to the greatest extent. The characteristics include two international conventions that guarantee human rights, freedoms, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Many scholars told the Global Times that next, the central government is expected to accelerate the legislative process of Hong Kong-related national security legislation, and it is likely to be included in the agenda of the Standing Committee from June 28 to 30 for the second review.
Author: Lexus Baiyun Yifan Yang Sheng Zhao feel Tingchenqingqing