Official: HK security legislation to protect people's rights, freedoms

The central government will press ahead with its decision to enact a national security law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region while protecting the legitimate rights and freedoms of law-abiding citizens, the central government's top liaison official said.

Luo Huining, director of the central government's liaison office in the SAR, made the remark after central government authorities, including the liaison office, began hearing the views of people from Hong Kong on how the proposed national security law should be framed and how it should be put into practice.

Luo met on Saturday with local representatives of society who called for the law to be enacted to ensure Hong Kong keeps a high degree of autonomy and has long-term prosperity and stability.

The national security law, proposed in May, covers acts of secession, subversion and terrorism, and foreign interference in the affairs of Hong Kong.

The liaison office said it had received 201 written proposals from 36 National People's Congress deputies from the SAR and 165 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The feedback will aid the NPC Standing Committee's deliberations as it drafts the legislation.

Hong Kong's Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said on Sunday that the SAR is working in close contact with central government bodies to put the proposed national security legislation into practice.

In a blog post, Cheung said the Hong Kong government has also identified other areas in which preparations are being made for the proposed law, and he reiterated that the rights, freedoms and core values of Hong Kong people will be protected by the law.

Over the weekend, two local groups called on secondary school students to participate in a "referendum" on whether to oppose the legislation with strikes and class boycotts.

Cheung has said schools and society at large should prevent campuses from being politicized.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said on Saturday that after Hong Kong regains stability with the national security law, investors would have more confidence in the city and its status as an international financial center would be further consolidated.

Lam cited recent developments in the city's financial market. Even though Hong Kong's stock market plummeted around 1,400 points on May 22－the day the NPC decided to introduce a national security law in Hong Kong－it has recovered all the loses and hit a three-month high on Friday.

She added that the city has not seen an outflow of capital after the legislation decision. That and the increasing secondary listing of China concept stocks as well as the surge of the local Purchasing Manager's Index in May show investors' confidence in Hong Kong, Lam said.