Following are the remarks by the Chief Executive, Mr John Lee, at a media session before the Executive Council meeting today (June 9):

Reporter: First, for the new national security subsidiary legislation submitted to the LegCo (Legislative Council) yesterday, are you concerned that it may give the public the impression that it represents a further centralisation of power in your hands? And second, regarding civil service pay adjustment, will the Government adopt the unions’ call for an across-the-board, around 3 to 4 per cent pay rise, to make up for the shortfall for the past few years, and how will you address the concerns by the police unions regarding the reformed appraisals mechanism? Will the Government consider maybe an exemption for the disciplinary forces? 

Chief Executive: The Government introducing subsidiary legislation for safeguarding national security is purely to make the law even clearer in the classification mechanism for offences that relate to endangering national security. In the laws regarding national security, for example, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, Section 7 makes mention of offence of endangering national security, and includes other offences endangering national security under the law of the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region). The purpose of introducing the subsidiary legislation is to make it clear, make it much, much clearer, how offences endangering national security under the laws of Hong Kong will be so classified. It is not intended and will not expand the definition of the offences, and it is not adding any new offences, any new power or punishment, and it also does not expand the scope of application of the law. 

     So having a clearer mechanism of classifying offences endangering national security will have the benefit of reducing the risk of controversies or debates in court about what constitutes an offence endangering national security, so clear law is good for administration of justice. That is the basic intention of introducing the subsidiary legislation to make the law clearer. The Chief Executive has a special responsibility under the Basic Law and under the Safeguarding National  Security Ordinance, because the Chief Executive is the head of the whole Special Administrative Region and has an important responsibility to ensure that national security is safeguarded. National security is a state responsibility. The fact the state has dedicated some of the responsibility to Hong Kong SAR is not just a trust, it's also a requirement that we do this well. So the responsibility goes to the Chief Executive to ensure this goes well. So I have the responsibility to ensure that first of all our laws will be regularly enhanced and the mechanism will also be enhanced in due course, so as to discharge the very important function effectively and efficiently. The application of the power in issuing a certificate is a very serious action which will be exercised by me with prudence and seriousness. We have to understand that a lot of endangering national security activities are committed by state players of another place. They are professional, sophisticated, and the seriousness of information that may be available to indicate the seriousness of the matters are privy to the Chief Executive. A lot of this information is sensitive and not suitable for public disclosure. That is why the Chief Executive has this responsibility, having access to the necessary information, make a decision to shoulder this important responsibility of safeguarding national security. As regard as to the question about who should shoulder this responsibility, the issue of certificate is the responsibility of the Chief Executive, but safeguarding national security is the responsibility of all citizens. That point has to be made clear, and they are serious offences. 

     Regarding your question about civil service pay adjustments, we have an established system to deal with it, which I think you know relates to six factors that we will take into consideration, which are: Hong Kong’s economy, the changes in the cost of living, the Government's fiscal position, the indicator that has been produced in the pay trend survey, and the paid claims of the staff, as well as the morale of the civil service. We'll take into consideration all these six factors. The Civil Service Bureau has been meeting civil service representatives and associations, and views on this have been exchanged. All these factors will be reported before a decision is made by ExCo (Executive Council). 

     In relation to your question about the enhanced measures to improve the appraisal system of the civil service; in fact the suggestion for the Government to strengthen the appraisal system comes from different sectors of society, legislators included, and we think that there are merits in a lot of suggestions, and so the Civil Service Bureau has examined all the suggestions and agree that the system can be enhanced. And they have introduced a system so that for those who are not regarding as performing well, then they should not get the increment. I think that is a very sensible and practical new measure, and the Civil Service Bureau has also introduced flexibility in the new system, so that the Head of Department can, within a reasonable room of manoeuvring, inform and report to the Civil Service Bureau about how these new mechanisms should apply in his own Department. The threshold that is set by the Civil Service Bureau is in fact a trigger point. I built this Head of Department Accountability System for two purposes. First is to ensure that there will be a higher level of supervision and high quality of performance by Departments by the Head of the Department exercising proper leadership, creating new systems and also building a good team of civil servants. And building a good team of civil servants relate importantly to a clear reward and punishment system. An appraisal system is part and parcel of this reward and punishment system. So for those who perform well, then they should be credited. For those who are not up to the standard, then they should be told that they need to pull their socks up and work harder. And also, where they do not merit an increment, they will not be given an increment.

     So this point system is one that will be granted only if the merits deserve it, and the Civil Service Bureau has introduced this new measure to ensure a clear reward and punishment system, and that will reward those who are working hard, who has a passion for his job and serves the public well. It will motivate them. At the same time, for those who are not performing, then they should be told, and also be appropriately dealt with, such as not giving them a point of increment. I can understand that civil servants may take time to adapt to the new system. The Civil Service Bureau will have to do more explanation, but it should be understood that reform means overall good for the civil servants, so that those who work hard will be better recognised and supported by citizens of Hong Kong. And those who do not perform will have to know that they must improve; otherwise, there will be further action against them, and this will be a system that creates a fair reward and punishment mechanism for the enhanced improvement of service for the whole Government. Flexibility has been built, and also we allowed Head of Departments to exercise his responsibility within the reasonable room to manoeuver. Thank you.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)

Ends/Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Issued at HKT 13:20

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