Scope of public office carefully mulled

December 1, 2020

Chief Executive Carrie Lam:
About the National Security Law, which has a wider application - at least according to what was written in this article in the National Security Law - that people in public office have to take the oath, swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and uphold the Basic Law.

This, by itself, clearly is wider than Article 104 in the Basic Law, which is very specific - referring to the Chief Executive, principal officials, members of the Executive Council, members of the Legislative Council and judicial members of the Judiciary. So this article is much wider. It’s much wider for a very good purpose, because if you look at the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, there are at least a couple of articles which require nationals to safeguard national security.

So when we need to apply this in Hong Kong, we have to be very precise about the scope (as to) who is going to be regarded as a person in public office under this provision, because in Hong Kong’s legislation, as far as public office is (concerned), I would say, is pretty loose and wide. So we are still deliberating very carefully on this issue.

I was just referring to some approaches that have been discussed. One is, of course, that position has to be a statutory position. The other is, that position may have some relationship with the Government in terms of funding - it’s a government-funded institution or maybe it is a public office that discharges public powers. But we have not decided, so don't take those as being the scope.

So when you refer to (the example) where somebody has suggested that schools should be put under this category, that has not been decided yet. But you know, schools include government schools. Government schools are staffed by civil servants. So they are, certainly, (considered to be in) public office and we already have plans to require each and every civil servant to take the oath.

For those who joined after July 1 this year, they have already done so by signing the declaration. For existing civil servants, the Secretary for the Civil Service will announce the detailed arrangements. But at the moment, we have not come to a decision on how wide the scope of public office in the National Security Law should be.

(To watch the full media session with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today said the Government is deliberating very carefully on the scope of public office under the National Security Law so as to decide who should comply with the oath-taking requirement.

Speaking to the media ahead of the Executive Council meeting this morning, Mrs Lam stated that according to the National Security Law, people in public office have to take an oath that they will bear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and uphold the Basic Law.

Citing Article 104 of the Basic Law which specifically refers to the Chief Executive, principal officials, members of the Executive Council and Legislative Council and members of the Judiciary, Mrs Lam said the National Security Law has a wider application.

“It’s much wider for a very good purpose, because if you look at the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, there are at least a couple of articles which require nationals to safeguard national security.

“So when we need to apply this in Hong Kong, we have to be very precise about the scope as to who is going to be regarded as a person in public office under this provision, because in Hong Kong’s legislation, as far as public office is concerned, I would say, is pretty loose and wide. So we are still deliberating very carefully on this issue.

“I was just referring to some approaches that have been discussed. One is, of course, that position has to be a statutory position. The other is, that position may have some relationship with the Government in terms of funding - it’s a government-funded institution or maybe it is a public office that discharges public powers. But we have not decided, so don't take those as being the scope.”

When asked whether schools should be put within the scope, the Chief Executive explained that no decision has been made.

“Schools include government schools. Government schools are staffed by civil servants. So they are, certainly, considered to be in public office and we already have plans to require each and every civil servant to take the oath.

“For those who joined after July 1 this year, they have already done so by signing the declaration. For existing civil servants, the Secretary for the Civil Service will announce the detailed arrangements.

“But at the moment, we have not come to a decision on how wide the scope of public office in the National Security Law should be.”