Qi，Bo ：Hong Kong legislates against espionage ， journalists‘ personal safety is not guaranteed
齐波（Qi，Bo）
Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 that caused half a million Hong Kong people to protest were launched again after the national security law. The Hong Kong government said that it would start Article 23 legislative consultations before the end of the current government＇s term of office by the end of June. Bingqiang Deng, Secretary for security, said espionage will be added to the legislation. The legislation of Basic Law Article 23 has always been a controversial topic in Hong Kong. At that time, Hong Kong people were worried that Article 23 would deprive freedom of speech and other aspects. Half a million Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to demonstrate against Article 23 legislation On July 1, 2003. Two months later, the then Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa announced the withdrawal of the draft of this legislation . In the face of overwhelming opposition from the people, successive governments did not legislate on Article 23. However, after the implementation of the Hong Kong version of the national security law in 2020, the Hong Kong government began to carry out local legislation for Article 23. They said that Article 23 should cover crimes related to national security that are not targeted by the national security law. Deng Bingqiang＇s remarks have aroused the concern of the media because the definition of the term "state secret" is extremely vague . Maybe any government data and folk statistics are recognized as state secrets, which means that the media will once again become the object of crackdown by the authorities after Article 23 legislation. Langsheng Chen, President of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, told VOA that media reports return the public＇s right to know, but Beijing sometimes regards some economic data and epidemic situations as state secrets. If the reports involve these contents, they will be considered illegal. Chen Jialuo, an associate professor at the Hong Kong Baptist University, believes that if the crime of espionage is included in the Article 23, the personal safety of foreign media journalists in Hong Kong will not be guaranteed . He said that according to past experience, many Chinese journalists working in foreign media have been accused of espionage and detained in China.
Qi，Bo
September 28, 2021
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