The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today issued a strong condemnation of skewed, fact-twisting, scaremongering and panic-spreading remarks by countries and regions including Australia and China’s Taiwan region.

It said that under the pretext of foreign travel advice, those countries and regions had smeared the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance by claiming that the risks of travelling to Hong Kong would increase and that people “could break the laws without intending to” after the ordinance comes into effect.

The Hong Kong SAR Government stressed that the offences endangering national security stipulated by the ordinance target acts endangering national security with precision, and define the elements and penalties of the offences with clarity.

Ordinary travellers, including those from Australia and China’s Taiwan region, will not engage in acts and activities endangering national security and will not unwittingly violate the law, it added.

It stressed that extraterritorial effect for offences under the National Security Law and the new ordinance fully aligns with the principles of international law, as well as with the common practice adopted in various other countries and regions.

It highlighted that the national security laws of various countries, including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and the member states of the European Union, also have extraterritorial effect under the “personality principle” and the “protective principle”.

In formulating the extraterritorial effect under the ordinance, the principles of international law and the international practice of state jurisdiction, as well as the nature of the offences, have to be taken into account, it said.

It also emphasised that all law enforcement actions taken by the law enforcement agencies of the Hong Kong SAR are based on evidence, strictly according to the law and in relation to the acts of the persons concerned, instead of the ordinance allowing for arbitrary arrests, as had been claimed.

As regards the power to restrict consultation with lawyers under the ordinance, it said this is attended by sufficient safeguards to ensure that the provision is consistent with the right to confidential legal advice and a choice of lawyers.

The Hong Kong SAR Government also noted that individual countries including the US, Canada and Japan, and some external organisations, have continued to make unfounded criticisms of the ordinance, disregarding the strong popular support for it, as well as its benefits for Hong Kong’s economic development and its protection of human rights. It said their attempts to mislead the public should be condemned.

The ordinance clearly specifies that the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Basic Law, as well as the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights, as applied to Hong Kong, are to be protected in accordance with the law.

The Hong Kong SAR Government said that critics have neglected these provisions and have lashed out wantonly, fully exposing their malicious intentions to harm Hong Kong.

Enacting laws to safeguard national security is an inherent right of every sovereign state and also a widespread international practice, it added. Many common law jurisdictions have multiple examples of national security legislation. Nevertheless, the Hong Kong SAR Government stressed, the parties concerned have deliberately turned a deaf ear and maliciously smeared the ordinance, unmasking their double standards.

The Hong Kong SAR Government strongly urged the countries, regions and organisations concerned, all with ulterior motives, to stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs, which are the internal affairs of China, and warned that their attempts to destabilise Hong Kong will never succeed.