Hong Kong’s national security legislation does not affect artistic creation, the city’s new police chief has said, days after warning of “soft resistance” in the media, arts and culture sectors.
Many artists or performers understand the “boundaries of the law” and would not get involved in national security issues, Commissioner of Police Joe Chow said in an interview with local media published on Monday.
During the interview with local media outlets, including Ming Pao, HK01, Sing Tao, and Ta Kung Pao, Chow was asked how he would ensure law enforcement would not affect cultural activities, or cause a “chilling effect” on international artistic exchanges.
The question followed his remarks at his first press conference as the city’s new police commissioner on Wednesday, during which he warned of “soft resistance” and said that many people still wished to “incite others through the media, arts and culture sectors.”
Artists still enjoy creative freedom in Hong Kong, Chow said in the interview published Monday.
Local residents and overseas visitors enjoy taking part in major cultural events held in the city, he added.
Role in 2019 unrest
Chow, 52, took the helm at the Hong Kong Police Force on Wednesday, after his predecessor, Raymond Siu, entered pre-retirement leave following 36 years of service.
Previously Siu’s deputy, Chow is known for leading a two-week police operation around the Hong Kong Polytechnic University during the peak of the 2019 anti-extradition bill unrest. Pro-democracy demonstrators occupied the campus and were besieged by the police, with the dispersal operation leading to over 1,300 arrests.
Chow also talked about the PolyU siege in the latest interview, saying that the primary concern of the police at the time was the physical and mental well-being of the trapped protesters.
He described the campus environment at the time as “extremely harsh” with poor sanitation. It was a “scene of devastation” that was not suitable for staying, he recalled.
Chow went on to say that Hong Kong society should consider who “pulled the strings” and “encouraged young people” to participate in the protests. Many young protesters “lost rationality” during the months-long unrest, the police chief said.
Some people who were arrested almost six years ago in connection with the 2019 protests have not been formally charged. In response to views that the authorities should speed up the prosecution of protest-related cases, or set a deadline for pressing charges, Chow said police investigation work is based on evidence, and no time limit should be set.
Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of 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.
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