This year marks the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland and the fifth anniversary of the implementation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region National Security Law.
In March 2024, Hong Kong finally completed legislation according to Article 23 of the Basic Law, enacting the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO). The NSL and SNSO together have the potential to prevent, suppress, and punish acts that seriously endanger national security.
The two laws, to a considerable extent, have plugged the loopholes in the HKSAR’s laws and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security, empowering the SAR to effectively shoulder its constitutional responsibility for safeguarding national security and allowing the “one country, two systems” principle to be fully and accurately implemented. Over the past five years, hostile forces at home and abroad have been kept at bay, and Hong Kong’s stability, order, and public security have been maintained, allowing the city to focus on socioeconomic development.
However, the two laws only target the national security threats that were evident during the anti-Article 23 legislation campaign in 2003, the “Occupy Central” campaign in 2014, and the “black-clad” riots in 2019-20.
They are designed to primarily counter conventional national security threats. However, as an international metropolis with a high degree of openness and numerous international connections, Hong Kong also faces a variety of nonconventional national security threats, which could become more severe in the future.
This is because the rapid advancement in science and technology, especially in information, cybernetworks, financial technology and artificial intelligence, has increasingly given rise to unprecedented national security threats. Moreover, to curb China’s rise, the United States is likely to continue its attempts to undermine the HKSAR’s value and role in China’s national development.
Currently, US policy toward China is dominated by the super hawks. They advocate maximal decoupling from China to try to contain, attack, and isolate China all-out. Recently, the White House launched a tariff war against the whole world, mainly targeting China. In the wake of China’s fierce counterattack, the tariff war has largely failed. However, Washington is unlikely to give up. It could continue to pummel China on other fronts, such as finance, shipping, and technology. Consequently, Hong Kong is likely to remain a “chess piece” in Washington’s China-containing offensives.
In recent years, the US has become increasingly hostile to Hong Kong. After the implementation of the NSL, the US launched wave after wave of attacks on Hong Kong, including sanctions on its officials, suspension of judicial cooperation with the city, cutting cultural and educational ties, restricting high-tech exports, hampering its students from studying in the US, imposing tariffs at the same level as those on the Chinese mainland, vilifying the SAR to damage its international image and reputation, calling for and restricting US and Western capital from investing in the city, moving to close its economic and trade offices in the US, and threatening to sanction its judges.
In the past, the US expected Hong Kong to serve as a bridgehead for promoting “peaceful evolution” in China, but this expectation has been shattered. Today, Washington regards the SAR as an “accomplice” in assisting China’s rise, so the city’s prosperity and stability are no longer in the fundamental interests of the US; on the contrary, Washington hopes that the SAR will become a burden for China. Therefore, we cannot assume that the US will treat Hong Kong well, and we must be vigilant and take precautions against Washington’s potential plots against the city.
As Sino-US relations become increasingly tense, the US’ intention to use the HKSAR to undermine China’s national security is becoming increasingly apparent. For this reason, the central government, the HKSAR government, and all sectors of Hong Kong must be vigilant and take early precautions against new national security threats that may arise in the future, especially nonconventional national security threats.
Hong Kong needs to assess the national security threats it faces from the perspective of the “comprehensive national security” concept advocated by President Xi Jinping, which covers both conventional and nonconventional national security threats, among which the threats in the areas of economy, finance, technology, cybernetworks, artificial intelligence, and data are critical to Hong Kong. The reason for this is that the central government hopes that Hong Kong will enhance its status as an international financial, shipping, trade center and international aviation hub; strengthen its functions as a global offshore renminbi business hub, international asset management center and risk management center; and support Hong Kong in building an international innovation and technology center. Doing all these tasks well will not only be beneficial to Hong Kong’s long-term development, allowing it to better serve the national development strategy, but also enable it to contribute to the country during the fierce Sino-US confrontation. On the contrary, from the US’ perspective, obstructing or even undermining the HKSAR’s achievements in those areas will help curb China’s rise. The US is particularly wary of the adverse impact of RMB internationalization on its global hegemony and the US dollar’s dominance. As the world’s largest offshore RMB business hub, Hong Kong plays a key role in promoting RMB internationalization. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the US will not take action against Hong Kong.
From the perspective of safeguarding national security, it is crucial to safeguard the security of various centers and hubs in Hong Kong and to keep the confidence of the international community in the city. It is imperative to maintain financial security, network security, communication security, information security, infrastructure security, and data security. In promoting these tasks, legislative work is indispensable. All sectors of Hong Kong society must be highly vigilant, and Hong Kong and the central government need to maintain close contact and work together. In the game being played out by China and the US, Beijing must also warn Washington that any action undermining Hong Kong’s prosperity, stability, and development will inevitably encounter strong opposition and countermeasures.
As the internal and external environment continues to evolve, Hong Kong’s work in safeguarding national security is a never-ending process.
The author is a professor emeritus of sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a consultant to the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
