Hong Kong’s national security laws must be constantly improved to address risks and close loopholes amid geopolitical tensions, a former senior mainland Chinese official overseeing the city’s affairs has said, while insisting that the local pieces of legislation were less draconian compared with equivalent laws in the United States and United Kingdom.
Wang Zhenmin, former bureau chief of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Office (HKMAO), was among the mainland legal experts who spoke at a seminar organised by the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank.
“Building a national security legal system in any country is a long process. It is not something that can be completed by enacting a single law once and for all. Whenever loopholes are discovered, legislation must be introduced promptly,” said Wang, a law professor at Tsinghua University and vice-president of the think tank.
“Hong Kong’s improvement of national security legislation is also an ongoing process and will not be completed… we cannot put a full stop on it.”
The seminar, titled “Safeguard high-quality development through high-level security”, was attended by more than 300 lawmakers, district councillors, and legal and community representatives.
