'Stop demonising Article 23 legislation'
Legislators on Tuesday accused some foreign countries of demonising Article 23 and meddling in the SAR's affairs, as the security bill reached the final stage of the legislative process. During a special Legco meeting scrutinising the bill, Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Joephy Chan thanked the administration for rebutting "untruthful remarks" regarding the homegrown national security legislation. "Article 23 legislation is being taken forward too fast, some people said. After the 911 [attacks], the US promulgated a bill. The Senate spent three days on scrutiny but then were there any questions over the too short period of the scrutiny? This once again shows their double standards," she said. "Anyway it does not affect our public consensus. Over 98 percent of the people of Hong Kong express support for Article 23 legislation. It also shows our resolution to finish the legislative exercise." DAB lawmaker Elizabeth Quat accused the west of blatant hypocrisy. "The US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand also have national security legislation. They have their own agencies to enforce the law. The US has been demonising the Article 23 legislation and this is outright double standards,” she said. Commercial sector lawmaker and executive councillor Jeffrey Lam said he expects there would be foreigners who make malicious and false accusations about the legislation because of geopolitical reasons. "It is necessary for the government to refute all this smearing as soon as possible. There is also the need to explain the [law] further to the community and to overseas communities, so that everyone knows about the content and spirit of the legislation," the Business and Professionals Alliance lawmaker said. Lawmaker Kitson Yang also condemned overseas politicians for smearing the bill, noting that there were similar provisions and penalties under national security laws in other jurisdictions.