The Hong Kong government has slammed an annual US report criticising the city’s national security crackdown, calling it “groundless attacks, slanders and smears.”
The Hong Kong government said on Wednesday that it “strongly disapproves of and firmly rejects” an annual report submitted to the United States Congress by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), an advisory panel that can recommend legislative and administrative action to the US legislature.
In the report, published on Tuesday, the USCC accused Beijing of having “dissolved the final vestiges of Hong Kong’s political freedom” and Hong Kong authorities of “intimidating [its] citizens to discourage them from engaging in open opposition.”
The USCC also recommended Congress impose secondary sanctions on Hong Kong financial institutions, alleging that “Hong Kong has become a central global hub for sanctions evasion that supports Russia, Iran, and North Korea.”
The Hong Kong government lashed out at the US commission on Wednesday, calling its report a “wanton manoeuvre with politics” and “interference” in Hong Kong affairs.
It also accused the USCC of “double standards,” noting the US has at least 21 pieces of national security legislation and “countless” administrative orders for security matters.
The government defended the city’s national security laws: the one Beijing imposed in 2020, following the large-scale 2019 pro-democracy protests and unrest, and the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO), also known as Article 23, which was enacted last year.
The two laws, as well as a subsidiary legislation under the SNSO this year, “clearly define elements of relevant offences, penalties, exceptions and defences,” the government’s statement said. “Law-abiding persons will not unwittingly violate the law.”
It also dismissed the USCC’s accusations of the Hong Kong government’s expanded “campaign of transnational repression” by placing bounties on more overseas pro-democracy activists and cancelling their passports.
“Extraterritorial effect for offences under the [national security law] and the SNSO fully aligns with the principles of international law, international practice and common practice adopted in various countries and regions,” the government said.
According to the statement, Hong Kong complies with and enforces the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council but will not follow other countries in imposing “unilateral sanctions.”
The US also enjoyed “significant economic benefits” in Hong Kong, the government said, noting the US$270 billion trade surplus the country has with Hong Kong over the past decade and the roughly 1,390 US companies operating in the city.
“All these demonstrate the close and long-standing economic ties between Hong Kong and the US, as well as the vast business interests of the US in Hong Kong,” it said.
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.
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.
