HONG KONG – A national security law tailor-made for Hong Kong is in line with the policy of safeguarding the “one country, two systems” principle, otherwise, the central government would have applied the one adopted on the mainland in the city, former president of the Legislative Council Jasper Tsang Yok-sing said on Saturday.

The proposed legislation, currently being drafted by the Standing Committee of the nation’s top legislature, will deter those colluding with external forces and prevent a “color revolution” amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington, he said during a seminar on the proposed law organized by the Asia Pacific Law Association.

A well-crafted security law can stop social unrest from being fueled by foreign intervention, said former LegCo president Jasper Tsang

Currently, the city has no safeguards on national security, though Article 23 of the city’s Basic Law has required the city to enact a law on its own in this regard.

Tsang said Hong Kong fails to keep external forces out of its doorway.

Protest violence may still flare, Tsang said, but added that a well-crafted security law can stop social unrest from being fueled by foreign intervention.

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Addressing the same seminar, Barrister Ronny Tong Ka-wah said the legislation is not to change Hong Kong’s system, as he believes there should be no overriding provisions in the security law once it is added to the Basic Law’s annex.

He agreed that the central government has no alternatives but to legislate a law for Hong Kong, after a year of often-violent protests and an often-paralyzed legislature that is unable to enact Article 23 of the Basic Law.

Tong, also a member of the Executive Council, said the most important topic now is how to strike a balance between protection of national security and the freedoms and rights Hong Kong people are enjoying.

He expressed his hope that the law could fit the city’s common law system that includes presumption of innocence and burden of proof, as well as open trial unless a case is considered improper for public hearing. He also cited Beijing officials’ reassurance that Hong Kong’s independent judiciary will definitely remain intact.

The barrister also agreed with some other legal experts that a special court could be set up for national security-related cases, with judges appointed by the Chief Justice.

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Another panelist, economist Francis Lui Ting-ming, noted that the national security legislation should be discussed under a larger context of Sino-US disputes.

A professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Lui said the United States won’t give up disrupting Hong Kong as a way to contain China after the security law takes effect in the city.

The US cannot find a means that undermines Hong Kong without damaging its own interest, said Lui, who thinks currency and trade sanctions won’t have much impact on the city.