Some Hong Kong gov’t departments and public bodies ‘completely disregarded’ security law, official auditor says

Hong Kong Free Press

Audit Commission National Security Law Nelson Lam

Some Hong Kong government departments and public organisations “completely disregarded” the national security law after it was enacted in June 2020, the government auditor has said.

Director of Audit Nelson Lam’s remarks, made in an interview with Ming Pao published on Wednesday, came after the Audit Commission’s October report which highlighted gaps in safeguarding national security. The gaps related to the government-subsidised Reindustrialisation and Technology Training Programme and campus facilities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) that are operated by external providers.

In the report on the training programme, the Audit Commission said the government’s Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC), which oversees the scheme, needed to implement measures to “strengthen guidance and regulation relating to [the training programme] over matters concerning the safeguarding of national security” such as setting up a complaint mechanism.

In the report on facilities at CUHK, the Audit Commission said the university had not incorporated safeguard measures relating to national security in tender documents, contract and guidelines. The commission said the university should add such terms to “allow the disqualification of tenderers and to terminate the contracts in the interest of national security.”

Hong Kong Director of Audit Nelson Lam. File photo: Hong Kong Audit Commission, via Facebook.

Lam told Ming Pao that there were risks of people violating the law if some government departments and institutions did not fully implement the national security legislation or comply with the authorities’ requirements.

Everyone had a duty to safeguard national security and the Audit Commission was responsible for examining the departments to ensure they had taken corresponding measures under the Beijing-imposed law, Lam said.

He added the national security law was a new legislation, thus the commission had given “specific scrutiny” to its implementation by the government. The performance of the organisations under review would determine whether they needed to be subject to thorough examination in the future, he said.

National flags of China and HKSAR flags in Hong Kong. File photo: GovHK.

In another report released in April last year, the Audit Commission urged the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) to “step up efforts” to make sure library materials did not threaten national security.

Article 23

The director was asked whether Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, required under Article 23 of the Basic Law, would become a key area of review. In response, Lam said the commission would examine all new legislation and government policies.

In June 2020, Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts, but it did not target all seven offences listed in Article 23.

Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that the government shall enact laws on its own to prohibit acts of treason, secession, sedition and subversion against Beijing. Its legislation failed in 2003 following mass protests and it remained taboo until after the onset of the separate, Beijing-imposed security law in 2020. Pro-democracy advocates fear it could have a negative effect on civil liberties but the authorities say there is a constitutional duty to ratify it.

Chief Executive John Lee said last June that the homegrown security law would “definitely” be enacted within that year or the next year at the latest, before vowing during last year’s Policy Address that legislation would be completed in 2024.