Hong Kong needs to guard against “soft resistance,” which may emerge during the city’s development process, a government official has warned.
“Soft resistance” may arise in areas such as land development, compensation for resettlement, and reclamation projects, Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn told Beijing-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po in an interview published on Sunday.
The development chief was among high-ranking officials who gave media interviews addressing “soft resistance” and national security concerns in recent days, ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Beijing-imposed national security law on Monday next week.
Linn said the Development Bureau must “think from the national security perspective” in its work and make “timely clarifications” when misunderstandings about the government’s development plans arise.
She cited the San Tin Technopole development plan, which has drawn concerns from environmental groups over its impact on what they described as the largest remaining intact coastal wetland ecosystem in the Greater Bay Area.
The tech hub’s planning zone, which was expanded in May 2023 to over 600 hectares, involves wetlands, and thus the project would “easily provoke opposition” from environmentalists, Linn said.
“The process of development may easily stir up different emotions and opposition. Some objections are reasonable, some arise from misunderstandings, and some are deliberately manufactured with ill intent. We have to handle it carefully,” the minister said.
Linn went on to say that reclamation development in the city was often met with “soft resistance,” citing the amendment to the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance, which was passed by the city’s opposition-free legislature last month.
The new law made it easier for the government to create new land through reclamation in the city’s famed Victoria Harbour despite objections from environmental activists.
Without naming a group, Linn said in Sunday’s interview that some organisations had spread “false images” online claiming that the government planned large-scale reclamation in Victoria Harbour.
She said the government had issued a “timely rebuttal,” adding that the claims were not misunderstandings but rather “deliberate provocation.”
In January, the Development Bureau issued a statement on social media to “seriously refute misleading remarks by the Society for Protection of the Harbour.”
The statement came hours after the environmental group held a press conference expressing opposition to the ordinance amendment. Its representatives, including harbour protection advocate Paul Zimmerman, questioned whether the legal amendment paved the way for large-scale reclamation and raised concerns that Victoria Harbour could become “Victoria River.”
The bureau rejected the group’s claims, saying they were “factually incorrect.” The bureau also accused the group of using “fictitious images” to support its claims.
In a press release issued by the Society for Protection of the Harbour in July, the group included an image of Victoria Harbour alongside the slogan “Save Our Harbour” and the phrases “Stop Reclamation” and “Danger.”
The same image was shown at the group’s press conference in January.
Since 2021, government officials have cited “soft resistance” as a threat to national security, although they have not provided a clear definition of the term.
The phrase was repeatedly used by government officials in their recent media interviews leading up to the national security law anniversary. Last week, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law said the government will strictly vet applications for event subsidies and performance venues, as well as exhibition content and library collections, to prevent “soft resistance.”
Monday, June 30, marks five years since the national security law came into effect. The legislation was inserted directly into the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, in 2020 following months-long pro-democracy protests and unrest.
It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move 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.
