Hong Kong leader John Lee has warned of “pervasive” national security risks in the city, saying that “soft resistance is real” and urging vigilance against threats.
Speaking during a weekly press conference on Tuesday, the chief executive said that “soft resistance is definitely here” and “it is lurking across different areas and different sectors.”
“Some are even disguised as righteous-sounding causes, but in fact, they carry an intention to endanger national security or commit destructive soft resistance,” Lee said in Cantonese.
The term “soft resistance” was first mentioned in 2021 in a speech by Luo Huining, then-director of Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong.
Since then, Hong Kong officials have cited “soft resistance” as a threat to national security, although they have not provided a clear definition of the term.
In recent days, in the lead-up to the fifth anniversary of the Beijing-imposed national security law next week, high-ranking officials have given media interviews addressing “soft resistance” in areas ranging from arts and culture to development and medicine.
The term has drawn criticism. Prominent playwright Candace Chong said on Monday that the government’s stance to eradicate “soft resistance” in the arts sector would harm the city’s artists – days after Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law vowed to scrutinise applications for event subsidies and performance venues.
When asked about the criticism, Lee said on Tuesday that “soft resistance” came in many different forms, citing two cases related to fake organ-donor withdrawals in 2023 as examples.
A student and a designer were convicted of criminal damage after they were accused of impersonating other people, including a TV actor, in an attempt to withdraw their names from Hong Kong’s organ donation registry.
The student and the designer were jailed last year for two months and four months, respectively.
Lee said: “Of course, criticism of the government… is allowed in our society, as long as you do not have bad intentions… But we should not isolate things, because when we connect the dots, you know it could be part of a scheme of soft resistance.”
The chief executive also twice quoted Beijing’s top official on Hong Kong affairs, Xia Baolong, who spoke at a national security forum on Saturday. Xia said at the forum that Hong Kong should “not forget about the pain even though the wound has healed” after the pro-democracy protests and unrest in 2019.
“Although the overall security situation in Hong Kong is stable and under control, risks still exist,” Lee also said on Tuesday.
He went on to say that “people endangering national security” would not stop, and they had planted “spokespersons and agents” in Hong Kong in the past.
“They could be lurking, secretive, and even deceptive,” he said. “Hong Kong people are gentle, but villains fill the streets. Let’s be careful against soft resistance in this regard.”
The Beijing-imposed national security law was enacted in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020.
The law criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. It gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
The city’s own security law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, also known as Article 23, came into effect in March last year.
Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.
Lee said last week that as of June 17, a total of 332 people had been arrested on suspicion of national security offences.
