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SJ's transcript

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Following is the transcript of the Question and Answer Session by the Secretary for Justice, Ms Elsie Leung, at the luncheon of the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong today (October 17) (English portion):

Question: Ms Leung, you said the objective of Article 23 is to prevent any act which would endanger national security, could you please give us an example of an act which endanger national security which is not already an offence under existing law?

Ms Leung: The point is not whether there is any ... As I said, the adequacy of the law and what kind of measure necessary to protect national security is a matter which we have to rely on the professional judgement of the Security Bureau. But the first principle of criminal law, is that it has to be precise. People have to know exactly what it is. People are entitled to know what exactly is treason, what exactly is subversion or secession. For a while, people were very worried about Taiwan issue, whether it is secession for anybody to talk about or to promote Taiwan independence in Hong Kong. These are the areas which we must have clear provision in the law.

Question: Can you give me an example or not? You haven't given me any example.

Ms Leung: The example is that currently the law does not deal with treason, secession and subversion in the sense as contained in Article 23. We have law relating to treason and treasonable offences, but it is not exactly as is what is provided for in BL 23. And also that the two prohibitions regarding foreign political organisations insofar as it relates to national security are not there.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)

End/Thursday, October 17, 2002

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