The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has achieved historic accomplishments in safeguarding national security through moderate legislation that fosters development and respects the rule of law and human rights, legal experts told a high-profile symposium on Tuesday.

The event, hosted by the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies to systematically interpret Hong Kong’s national security law system, brought together some 400 attendees, including HKSAR lawmakers, district councilors, leaders of political groups and major associations, institutional representatives, and pundits from the legal community.

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Addressing the symposium, Deng Zhonghua, president of the association, said that over the past six years, through persistent efforts, a series of national security laws and regulations have been enacted in Hong Kong, and specialized bodies such as the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the HKSAR and the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR have been established.

He noted that Hong Kong's national security work has achieved historic accomplishments and undergone historic changes, adding that “security in development has become a strength for its overall development”.

Vice-president of the association Wang Zhenmin, who is also a professor at the School of Law of Tsinghua University, emphasized that safeguarding national security is a common practice among all countries and regions, and that related legislation and amendments are “always a work in progress, never complete”.

Reviewing the process of national security legislation at both the national and SAR levels and comparing with major Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, he said against the backdrop of global uncertainties, countries and regions worldwide have stepped up the pace of their national security legislation, with new laws increasingly balancing both traditional and non-traditional security threats.

The global trend toward reinforcing national security laws is an undeniable reality and a long-term trajectory, Wang said.

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"Hong Kong's efforts to safeguard national security have only involved minimal legislation, neither overstretching the concept of security nor pursuing absolute security,” said Wang.

It represents the world's most moderate, rule-of-law-based, and human-right-respecting practice in national security legislation, Wang said, adding that the SAR strives to maintain national security while fostering development and openness, ensuring that high-standard security safeguards the steady and sustained implementation of the “one country, two systems” framework.

In facing national security risks and challenges, especially mounting external containment and suppression, he added that Hong Kong must “further improve relevant legal provisions, arming and protecting ourselves with law”.

Han Dayuan, a professor at the Law School of Renmin University of China and also a vice-president of the association, said that security and development should maintain a “dynamic balance” under the “one country, two systems” policy — neither focusing solely on security while neglecting the development of Hong Kong and Macao, nor unilaterally emphasizing development in the SARs at the expense of weakening or undermining national security interests.

“Through six years of practice under the HKSAR National Security Law, especially the judicial activities of the courts, we have demonstrated that the two are not opposing concepts. Freedom and security are essentially in a dynamic balance, not a static trade-off,” Han said.

Hong Kong emphasizes dynamically safeguarding national security within an open environment, and the city remains committed to promoting high-level openness under the guarantee of high-level security, Han said.

This approach offers a valuable new paradigm for global national security practices that seek to balance security with development, while coordinating openness with governance, he added.

Reflecting on the symposium, Maria Tam Wai-chu, former deputy director of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said the Hong Kong SAR shoulders a unique mission under the development framework outlined in the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), emphasizing that development and security are mutually inclusive — the two complement each other and advance together like two wings.

Legal sector lawmaker Nick Chan Hiu-fung said the speakers provided a comparative analysis of national security legal frameworks across various jurisdictions and emphasized that national security laws are not designed to restrict human rights, but rather to protect them.

Another legislator, Maggie Chan Man-ki, shared that Hong Kong remains under a complex and challenging national security landscape, and that safeguarding national security is a dynamic and gradual process, during which continuous efforts are required to plug loopholes and refine the national security legal system and relevant enforcement mechanism.

Contact the writer at gangwen@chinadailyhk.com