Hong Kong’s environment minister has pledged to tighten scrutiny of applicants and recipients of the government’s Environment and Conservation Fund (ECF), saying public resources must not fall into the hands of “non-patriots.”
Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan told Beijing-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po in an interview published on Sunday that authorities would closely monitor the work of environmental groups to ensure statutory funding is not “abused” for “inappropriate purposes.”
Since the enactment of the Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020, additional vetting procedures have been introduced to the ECF application process, Tse said.
Applicants must now sign a declaration pledging compliance with the security law and all local laws. Authorities also review the background and past work of applicant organisations to verify that they are “patriotic.”
“We have to ensure that government resources do not end up in the hands of non-patriots, to prevent them from abusing such resources for activities endangering national security, rather than for the purposes of protecting the environment,” Tse said.
According to the ECF website, failure to submit the national security declaration renders an application invalid. The ECF application guidelines also state that the government has the right to disqualify recipient organisations on national security grounds and may bar them from future applications if they are deemed contrary to the public interest, morals, or safety.
Tse said all organisations currently involved in environmental projects were “patriotic” and credited the new screening measures with producing “significant results.”
The minister also pointed to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s move in 2022 to add national security clauses to the issuance of licences to markets, public entertainment venues and other premises.
When asked about the recent expansion of such requirements to licences for food businesses, cinemas, gaming centres and other premises, Tse said the move was to let society know that safeguarding national security “is everyone’s responsibility.”
In a Wen Wei Po interview in July 2023, Tse alleged that some green groups had “ignored the boundaries of the law,” and that public funds had previously been allocated to “anti-China” organisations. He added that environmental issues were “easily hyped up” and could be used as a pretext to oppose the government.
High-ranking Hong Kong officials have taken turns to speak about various national security threats facing the city and have vowed stricter scrutiny ahead of the fifth anniversary of the national security law.
Last week, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law said Hong Kong would strictly vet applications for event subsidies, performance venues, exhibition content, and library collections in a bid to better safeguard national security.
Monday next week – on 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 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.
