Authorities reveal presence of covert radicals, need for anti-terrorism work

Hong Kong’s terrorism threat level will remain at “moderate” following the arrest of 291 people for endangering national security in the past three years, the city’s Security Bureau said on Wednesday.

Among those arrested — 218 males and 73 females — over 170 people and five companies had been charged, while 112 had either been convicted by a court or were awaiting sentencing as of March 8, according to the bureau’s written reply to a lawmaker.

The designation of “moderate” puts Hong Kong in the middle tier of the three-level terrorist attack category, indicating the presence of latent threats while no intelligence suggests that Hong Kong is a target, the bureau said in a separate reply the same day.

The three official reporting channels for leads regarding national security have received over 7,000 reports since November 2022, the bureau said. The channels are a dedicated email address, nsd-public@police.gov.hk; a text-only telephone number, 6271-7171; and a WeChat account.

The bureau said the implementation of the National Security Law for Hong Kong in June 2020 has restored Hong Kong’s overall social stability and helped police crackdown on radicals advocating terrorist attacks against the city.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said the Interdepartmental Counter Terrorism Unit will continue to focus on promoting public education and encouraging members of the public to provide information related to terrorism and violence

However, it cautioned that some radicals have become more covert, with some spreading extremist ideas and inciting radical behavior on the internet, posing challenges to the city’s security.

As a result, authorities have decided to maintain the terrorism-threat level at “moderate” to underscore the necessity of strengthening antiterrorism work, the bureau said.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said in a written reply to a Legislative Council panel that on the counterterrorism front, the Interdepartmental Counter Terrorism Unit will continue to focus on promoting public education and encouraging members of the public to provide information related to terrorism and violence. The unit will also strengthen intelligence gathering and enhance the departmental response capability.

Ronny Tong Ka-wah, a senior counsel and member of the city’s Executive Council, said most of the 291 people arrested were activists involved in the aftermath of the 2019-20 social unrest, including the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

He said the newly enacted Safeguarding National Security Ordinance will ensure that such turbulence is unlikely to recur.

Kennedy Wong Ying-ho, a lawmaker representing the import and export sector, said the number of people arrested showed that the National Security Law targets only a handful of people endangering national security, while providing broad protection for the entire society. 

Wong cited feedback from an Indonesian business delegation, saying that foreign investors’ confidence in the city has grown following the enactment of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in March.