'No foreign opposition so far to Article 23'
Executive Council convenor Regina Ip on Friday said there have been no official statements so far from foreign countries opposing or discrediting the city’s Article 23 legislation consultation. Ip explained that many of them may still be studying the consultation papers. Speaking on a local radio programme, Ip said the consultation papers issued this time round were improved from the ones in 2003, when the legislation was last tabled, and the relevant documents were similar to national security legislation in countries such as the UK, US, Australia, Canada, and Singapore. “I think the consultation document is very well written. It’s very detailed and comprehensive, drawing on a lot of examples from other common law jurisdictions. Any government interested can submit their comments before the end of consultation, which is next week. And they are free to comment,” she said. She added that foreign countries may be concerned about the appeal mechanisms in relation to Article 23, but reassured people that the legislation will not affect the city's judicial independence, nor will it enable data transfers to the mainland, an issue that has some foreign firms uneasy. “We can see from the experience in the past few years. We have very strong laws. The courts are independent. A lot of consular officials have been observing trials in our courts, but nobody has been able to point to any irregularities.” “So I think in due course, when the bill is published, foreign media, foreign chambers, foreign governments will be able to see for themselves that our legislation is based on common law with all the common law safeguards of rights and freedoms,” she said.  Ip’s comments came after a US law firm reportedly decided to cut its Hong Kong-based lawyers from its international databases due to national security worries. Ip said such data transfer concerns are misplaced. She expects Article 23 to be enacted during the summer prior to the US election in November, to avoid the city’s legislation from becoming embroiled in American politics. Separately, vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and former chief executive CY Leung urged the government to ramp up efforts in explaining Article 23 legislation to foreign businesses, and to persuade them to use Hong Kong as a base for other cities in the Greater Bay Area.