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

Chief Executive John Lee said today that the Government will continue to explain to both local and overseas business sectors that the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance will create stability and security.

Answering questions from reporters ahead of the Executive Council meeting this morning, Mr Lee highlighted that attacks from overseas on the ordinance have continued.
 

“As regard the overseas attacks against the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which has come into effect on March 23, we know that a lot of overseas politicians and organisations, because of their own political interests and purposes, they will continue to attack Hong Kong.
 

“They will continue to attack our law despite the very fact that their own countries have more stringent laws, more wide-ranging laws, and more embracing laws to deal with national security offences. And some countries actually have much harsher laws to protect their own national security.
 

“A lot of them turn a blind eye to what we have done, when we have so confidently and openly written the protection and safeguarding of human rights and freedoms into our law, which may not be the case in their own countries’ laws.
 

“In recent cases, we have seen evidence to indicate overseas politicians have been actively interfering in Hong Kong affairs. The motives of these people are very clear. But we will ensure that we will continue to explain the merit of our Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which, on the one hand, is a defensive law to protect our own interests, so that people do not dare to think about breaking into our house to cause harm to our family members, and harm our national security.”
 

The Chief Executive stressed that the Government has been putting effort into ensuring the community, in particular the business sector, is well informed about the advantages of the ordinance. 
 

“And we will ensure that we inform the community at large, both locally and overseas, that we have stringent safeguards in place to protect human rights and freedoms, which align with the international standards as described in the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights.
 

“We will, of course, talk to people in the business sector. We have been doing a lot of briefing sessions to chambers of commerce, both locally and chambers of foreign countries that are stationed in Hong Kong.
 

“We will, of course, during our visits to overseas countries, continue to inform the business sector about the advantage of this law, which is to create stability and security, without which no investments can ever hope to thrive. With stability and security, then prosperity may come.”