Hong Kong needs to improve legal system for safeguarding national security: director of liaison office

HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) needs to uphold the rule of law and improve its legal system and enforcement mechanism for safeguarding national security, Director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR Luo Huining said on Wednesday.

The motherland is the solid source of strength for Hong Kong to weather storms and overcome challenges, and to safeguard national security is to protect Hong Kong's fundamental interests, Luo said in a speech on the launch of a website to promote the national security education on Wednesday, which marks China's fifth National Security Education Day.

For the nearly 23 years since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, the system for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong has room for improvement, and a number of Hong Kong residents' awareness of national security needs to be enhanced, Luo said, adding that the weakness could be fatal at critical moments.

Deep intervention by external forces in the Hong Kong affairs in recent years has highlighted the importance of strengthen Hong Kong's system for safeguarding national security, he said.

"I believe all friends who love the country and Hong Kong will agree that efforts, without delay, must be made to upgrade the legal system and enforcement mechanism on safeguarding national security, so that Hong Kong will never become a breach in the national security."

Emphasizing the important role of the rule of law in safeguarding national security, Luo pointed out that the prolonged violent crimes since June 2019 in Hong Kong have greatly impacted Hong Kong's core value of the rule of law, badly undermined the region's stability and prosperity, seriously challenged the bottom line of "one country, two systems" principle and severely endangered national security.

Even at this moment when concerted efforts of the whole society are needed to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, arson, road blocking and manufacturing explosives are still taking place in Hong Kong, threatening security and damaging the public order, he added.

While urging for bringing the lawbreakers to justice and calling for zero tolerance of acts that endangers the foundation of Hong Kong's rule of law, Luo stressed that "law is the last line of defense for justice" and appealed to the whole community to make efforts to create a social environment conducive to the fight against all kinds of acts jeopardizing Hong Kong's stability and national security.