SJ rejects US interference

May 30, 2020

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng said that any attempt to interfere with the right of a sovereign state to pass its own national security law is unacceptable.

 

Speaking to the media after attending a radio programme today, Ms Cheng rejected US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Hong Kong has lost its autonomy.

 

“It is said that we are becoming ‘one country, one system’ with loss of autonomy, that is completely false and wrong.”

 

She pointed out that national security is a matter under the purview of the central authorities.

 

“As a matter of fact, people often forget that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is part of China, we are one country. Without ‘one country’, there is not any basis to talk about ‘two systems’.

 

“Therefore, insofar as the national security is concerned, as in any other country in the world, this is a matter that belongs to the central authorities, whether it is a unitary or federal state.”

 

Ms Cheng added that any other country trying to use coercion or other means with a view to interfering with the right of a sovereign state to pass its own national security law is arguably infringing on the principle of non-intervention under public international law, which is not acceptable.

 

“As to the suggestion of certain individuals or perhaps a particular region being sanctioned as a result of China passing the national security law, we step back and look at it in this way: national security is of prime importance to any sovereign state, and any sovereign state must, as a matter of its sovereign right, and indeed duty, to protect the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of any state.

 

“Therefore, passing national security law is something that any state has to do.”

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