Hong Kong’s new district councillors must support legislation of local version of national security law, John Lee says during oath-taking ceremony
- 470 councillors swear oath of allegiance under supervision of home affairs chief Alice Mak
- Chief Executive John Lee outlines four requirements for district councillors, including safeguarding national security by supporting legislation of Article 23 of Basic Law
Hong Kong’s leader has ordered the city’s new district councillors to support the legislation of a local version of the national security law as they pledged to serve as a bridge between the government and their respective communities during an oath-taking ceremony.
The 470 councillors on Monday swore an oath of allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, under the supervision of Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak Mei-kuen at the government headquarters in Admiralty.
Before the closed-door swearing-in, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu outlined four requirements for councillors, including their responsibility to safeguard national security by supporting legislation of Article 23 of the Basic Law.
“As members of district governance … you must unite to support the legislation of Article 23, cooperate with the government in fulfilling this constitutional responsibility and work to enhance the legal framework and enforcement mechanism to protect national security,” he said.
Article 23 requires Hong Kong to enact its own security legislation to outlaw the theft of state secrets, and to ban foreign groups from conducting political activities in the city and local political organisations or bodies from establishing ties with foreign counterparts.
Lee also asked the councillors – elected or appointed under a revamped system – to fulfil their consultative role as outlined in Basic Law Article 97, which states that community-level organisations exercise no political power.
