A draft national security bill on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) has been submitted to the country’s national legislature Friday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The submission came on the heels of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s delivery of his government work report to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature, on the first day of its annual gathering, which will end on Thursday in Beijing.
Li vowed full implementation of “One Country, Two Systems” in the Hong Kong and Macao SARs and highlighted the necessity of establishing sound legal systems to defend national security in the two SARs, Xinhua said.
The legislature has not yet released the details of the draft legislation to the public.
According to a version seen by Reuters, the proposed new legislation for Hong Kong requires the territory to quickly finish enacting national security regulations under its mini-constitution, the Basic Law.
The legislation aims establish a legal framework and implementation mechanism to prevent and punish subversion, terrorism, separatism and foreign interference, “or any acts that severely endanger national security,” Reuters reported.
Wang Chen, vice chairman of the NPC’s Standing Committee, was expected to give a speech to explain the draft legislation later on Friday, the report said.
Contact reporter Lu Zhenhua (zhenhualu@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
