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Preserving the territorial integrity of a nation and the stability of its government is essential to the welfare of a nation and is a top priority in almost all countries, the Acting Permanent Secretary for Security, Mr Timothy Tong, said today (December 8).
"Since acts of secession and subversion threaten the fundamental well-being of a country, they are prohibited in one way or another in all jurisdictions," he said.
Although there were at present no specific offences termed secession or subversion in the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), these concepts were inherent in the existing treason offence, Mr Tong said.
"In accordance with Article 23 of the Basic Law, the HKSAR has only proposed to carve out elements of secession and subversion from the existing treason provisions.
"In the Government's proposals, the offence of secession is defined as withdrawing a part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its sovereignty or resisting the Central People's Government (CPG) in its exercise of sovereignty over a part of the PRC by levying war, use of force, threat of force or by other serious unlawful means.
"A subversion offence is defined as intimidating the PRC Government; overthrowing the PRC government; or disestablishing the basic system of the state as established by the PRC constitution, by levying war, use of force, threat of force, or by other serious unlawful means," Mr Tong said.
He explained that "serious unlawful means" were offences of a grave nature, and refer to acts akin to terrorism. The definition is adopted from the existing United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance.
Mr Tong stressed that "secession" and "subversion" offences were clearly linked to serious violence or grave criminal actions which threaten national security. They are not "political offences" aimed at suppressing freedoms of thought or speech as some people allege.
"We have made every effort to ensure that there are adequate and effective safeguards in place to protect various freedoms, such as those of demonstration and assembly, as guaranteed by the Basic Law," he added.
Mr Tong pointed out that according to the opinion of one of the leading human rights lawyers in both the United Kingdom and Europe, Mr David Pannick QC, the Government's proposals to implement BL 23 were consistent with human rights guaranteed by the Basic law and protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
End/Sunday, December 8, 2002
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