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Tuesday, June 30, 2020, 00:50
Fingers crossed that national security law will be enacted soon
By Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 30, 2020, 00:50 By Staff Writer

To the relief of most Hong Kong people, Ip Kwok-him, a Hong Kong deputy to the National People’s Congress, suggested on Sunday that the odds of the draft national security law for Hong Kong being passed by China’s top legislature before its current session closes on Tuesday were over 99.9 percent.

Those who want the violence to be stopped, social unrest to be quelled, stability to be restored and the rule of law to be upheld in Hong Kong are keeping their fingers crossed that the proposed law will be enacted sooner rather than later after the NPC announced the move late last month.

The yearlong violent rampages and vandalism perpetrated by rioters including diehard separatists in the pursuit of their political objectives have helped Hong Kong people realize: Nothing other than a national security law enacted by the country’s top legislature can stop such unprecedented madness.

Hong Kong people realize the city they call home is teetering on the edge of an abyss as riots and terrorist acts have dominated the city’s urban landscape for months and police have uncovered an increasing number of bomb plots against law enforcers as well as civilians.

The logical and natural response of people who want to lead a normal life free from threats, dangers and harm is to give a loud shout: The madness must be stopped without further delay! They made their voices heard by signing a petition supporting enactment of the national security law being reviewed by members of the NPCSC. In the eight-day campaign ended on May 30, nearly three million Hong Kong residents signed the petition supporting the national security legislation.         

Popular support for the new law to be enacted and promulgated by the country’s top legislature is conceivable and sensible. Hong Kong simply can no longer wait for the city’s legislature, paralyzed by the opposition camp, to enact national security legislation on its own according to Article 23 of the Basic Law. Moreover, the new law targets only an extremely small number of separatists, terrorists and hostile external forces who threaten national security. The majority of residents including expats who have no intention of undermining China’s national interests have no reason to fret about the law. 

The SAR has failed, for two decades, to fulfill its constitutional obligation to safeguard national security by enacting a relevant law. The central authorities have no alternative but take it on themselves to legislate for the SAR when the national security of China is nowhere more seriously threatened and actually undermined than in Hong Kong.

Foreign governments or politicians are guilty of practicing double standards when they raise an objection to Beijing’s move to safeguard national security while they have installed their own safeguards against subversive acts.


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