CHINA-HONGKONG: CLARIFICATION ON NATIONAL SECURITY LAW
Commencing on the National Security Law recently passed by the NPC plenum in Beijing in May, the Guardian (June 17) said that Deng Zhonghua, the deputy head of China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told a conference that “in very special circumstances” and in “very few cases”, China must have the power to exercise jurisdiction over offences in Hong Kong that “seriously endanger national security”. He also stressed that the national security law will “have the authority and status that cannot be challenged” and no Hong Kong laws shall contravene it. The Guardian said in his original address, Deng Zhonghua had said the laws would give national security agents set up by the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities’ both enforcement and judicial powers, although the words “judicial power” disappeared from his officially published speech.
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