Hong Kong’s new subsidiary legislation of its domestic security law came into force on Tuesday, just a day after the government proposed it with a spokesman saying the new measures had to be enacted as soon as possible because of “potential unforeseen circumstances amid escalating geopolitical tensions”.
The legislation was gazetted and signed by Acting Chief Executive Eric Chan Kwok-ki as city leader John Lee Ka-chiu is in Kuwait for a business trip.
On Monday, the government announced the new legislative changes which aimed to amend the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance to provide greater clarity and better support to Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security.
However, a day after the new subsidiary law was tabled to a Legislative Council panel for deliberations, a government spokesman said this timetable would no longer apply.
He explained that it would now be subject to a “first enactment, then vetting” process in the Legislative Council.
“Against the increasingly turbulent global geopolitical landscape, national security risks to which the HKSAR is exposed can arise all of a sudden,” he said.
