Dear Editor,
Recently, my colleagues and I noticed that there have been some articles about Hong Kong national security legislation in Guyana’s newspapers and Face-book. However, some authors deliberately interpret the legislation in a wrong way or simply do not understand the “One Country, Two systems” principle, and draw incorrect conclusions. Therefore, I feel it necessary to introduce the following four basic facts to Guyanese friends to ensure a correct understanding of Hong Kong and the legislation.
1. Hong Kong is part of China
To understand Hong Kong, we must first recognize the basic fact that Hong Kong is an integral part of China. Hong Kong is located in the south of China and neighbours Guangdong Pro-vince. It has been the territory of China since ancient times. In 1841, it fell into the colonial rule of the British. On July 1st, 1997, China resumed exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, and the colonial rule ended. Accord-ing to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Hong Kong Basic Law, Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China directly under the central government, and the “One Country, Two systems”, “Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong” and a high degree of autonomy are implemented. It is important to point out that “One Country” is the premise and foundation of “Two systems”. Some people only emphasize “Two systems” and ignore “One Country”. This is a deliberate distortion of facts. Although Hong Kong has a special status on China’s territory, it has never been an independent political entity, and it is also very different from the overseas territories in the Caribbean region.
2. China’s central government governs Hong Kong in accordance with law
A high degree of autonomy does not mean complete autonomy. The high degree of autonomy enjoyed by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is granted by the central government. The HKSAR shall be responsible to the central government which grants such autonomy.
Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law stipulates, the HKSAR shall “enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People’s Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting political activities in the Region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the Region from establishing ties with foreign political organizations or bodies.” However, because of the obstruction of anti-China forces inside and outside Hong Kong who schemed to destabilize Hong Kong, the constitutional responsibility and legislative obligation to maintain national security that the HKSAR must undertake has never been carried out since China resumed exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong 23 years ago. In recent years, chaos in Hong Kong has been more and more frequent, “Hong Kong secessionists” were even receiv-ed by foreign politicians, and mobs constantly attacked innocent civilians and destroyed public facilities. The “Oriental Pearl” of Hong Kong has lost its prosperity and peace.
To fill the legal vacuum of national security, on May 28th, the National People’s Congress – China’s top legislative body adopted a decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security. This is China’s act of governing the country according to law. When other countries do this, they all think it is justified. How can some people in some other countries react violently when China does the same and even threaten to sanction Hong Kong and China? Isn’t it strange! What people should suspect it is not the original intention of China’s legislation to maintain national security and manage Hong Kong affairs according to law, but to suspect the sinister intentions of those countries that have a large number of national security laws with wide coverage and harsh implementation but shout out loud that China should not legislate to maintain national security.
3. It is a false proposition that Hong Kong national security legislation violates the “Sino-British Joint Declaration”
Which article of the “Joint Declaration” is violated by Hong Kong national security legislation? No one has ever pointed it out. In fact, the core of Sino-British negotiations and the signing of the “Joint Declara-tion” is to resolve the issue of China’s resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong. China’s basic Hong Kong policies elaborated in Annex I, are “unilateral” declarations for the part of China, not China’s international obligations to the British side. China has long stated that the issue of sovereignty and governance over Hong Kong cannot be discussed. The implementation of “One Coun-try, Two systems” is China’s own business. Imagine which sovereign country will tolerate other countries in any form having so-called “responsibility” over its local administrative region?
4. The fundamental rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents are fully protected
After China resumed exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, the Constitution and the Basic Law ensures that the residents of the HKSAR enjoy wider democratic rights and freedoms than any time in history. For the first time, Chinese nationals among the residents of the HKSAR have the right to participate in the management of state affairs according to law. In the face of demonstrations, the restraint and peaceful law enforcement of the Hong Kong police are in stark contrast to the abuse of force and violent law enforcement by police in certain countries.
But any rights and freedoms are not absolute, and must be exercised within the scope of law. National security being effectively guaranteed is the prerequisite for Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability and for Hong Kong people to live and work in peace and contentment. Hong Kong national security legislation will only make the “One Country, Two systems” principle more complete, and will not affect Hong Kong’s implementation of the capitalist system and independent judicial power under the “One Country, Two systems” framework. It will not affect the rights and freedoms of speech, press, and publishing or assembly that Hong Kong residents enjoy in accordance with the law. The decision of the National People’s Congress clearly pointed out that Hong Kong national security legislation only targets a very small number of acts that seriously endanger national security, such as splitting the country, subverting state power, and organizing and carrying out terrorist activities, as well as activities of foreign and overseas forces interfering in the affairs of the HKSAR. It will only punish the very few organizations and individuals who engage in the above activities. As long as people do not engage in those activities, what are they worried about?
China is a unique country worth of studying and researching. I sincerely hope my Guyanese friends can read more objective instead of biased reports about China.
Yours faithfully,
Cui Jianchun
Chinese Ambassador
to Guyana
