The Hong Kong government has said it did not allocate any extra budget to the national security “special fund” in 2024, after disbursing a total of HK$13 billion to the fund as of 2023.
In a document submitted to the legislature on Monday, the Financial Secretary’s Office said that the Hong Kong government “did not further inject funds into the Special Fund during the reporting period,” referring to the year 2024.
Hong Kong established the special fund in 2020 to finance expenses related to safeguarding national security after Beijing imposed national security legislation in June that year, following pro-democracy protests and unrest in 2019.
It received an initial allocation of HK$8 billion in December 2020 and an additional HK$5 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2023.
In the document, the Financial Secretary’s Office also cited the Beijing-imposed national security law, saying that the details regarding the use of the fund would not be disclosed.
The document only outlined the use of the fund in general terms, like “recurrent expenditure,” which included salaries and allowances, and “non-recurrent expenditure,” such as those for construction works and equipment. It did not provide any figures either.
The national security law stipulates that Hong Kong establishes a Committee for Safeguarding National Security, chaired by the city’s leader and supervised by Beijing, and that the police and the Department of Justice set up their own special national security teams.
The special fund, which finances these establishments and their operations, is managed by a special accounting and financial unit under the Committee for Safeguarding National Security. The special unit reports to the financial secretary.
The fund is appropriated from the government’s general revenue with the approval of the chief executive. The financial secretary shall submit an annual report regarding the fund to the legislature.
The special fund does not cover the expenditure of China’s national security office in Hong Kong, which is funded separately by Beijing.
In Monday’s document, the Financial Secretary’s Office reiterated that the special fund had been “independently audited” following the requirements of Hong Kong’s accounting policies and principles.
But no details of the use of the special fund will be disclosed under Article 14 of the national security law, which states that information about the work of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security shall not be disclosed.
“Quite a number of jurisdictions regard the expenditure and manpower establishment concerning national security as secret information and do not disclose details of the expenditure involved,” the document added.
Paul Chan, the financial secretary, is expected to present the document to the legislature during a general meeting on Wednesday.
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.
