Tehran, 26 May_Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam has reiterated that the new national security law proposed by Beijing would not affect rights and freedoms in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, amid a wave of protests over the bill.
Lam said during a regular news conference on Tuesday that the bill would not have to raise concern.
“There is no need for us to worry. In the last 23 years, whenever people worried about Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and freedom of expression and protest, time and again, Hong Kong has proven that we uphold and preserve those values,” she said.
Lam also urged those concerned to wait to see the details of the legislation.
“The best thing is to see the legislation in front of us and to understand why at this point in time Hong Kong needs this piece of legislation,” she said.
Hong Kong was rocked by violent protests over another bill that would have reformed Hong Kong’s extradition law last year. Rioters vandalized the city, destroying public and private property and attacking anyone deemed to be pro-government. Hong Kong dropped that bill, but the acts of violence continued.
Beijing proposed the new national security law last Friday. It is expected to criminalize sedition, secession, and subversion against the mainland. It would also pave the way for Chinese national security institutions to operate in the city for the first time since 1997, when Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule.
The introduction of the bill sparked a protest in Hong Kong last Sunday, the first major protest since the anti-government demonstrations last year.
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