White House rebuttal: Secretary for Security Regina Ip says Hong Kong will continue explaining the finer points of Article 23 to Washington - and reiterated that human rights and freedoms are protected under the Basic Law.

The Government will not put forward any proposals that will undermine the basic human rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong's residents, Secretary for Security Regina Ip stresses.

This was Mrs Ip's message in response to concerns raised by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on the proposed anti-subversion law.

Mrs Ip said the White House officials may not fully comprehend the fine details of the proposals, adding that Hong Kong will continue to explain to them.

Under Article 23 of Basic Law, Hong Kong has a constitutional duty to enact law on our own to protect national security and we are acting entirely within our autonomy, Mrs Ip stressed.

She reiterated that basic human rights and freedoms are fully protected under the Basic Law. "We will not be putting forward any proposals that conflict with these rights."

"If you look at the details of our proposals, if you care to look at the fine print, you will find that our proposals are more liberal than a lot of the outdated provisions still on our statutes inherited from the colonial era."

"In fact our proposals, the detail provisions compare very well with similar provisions in other common law legislation," she added.

Noting that there is no truth whatsoever that our bill mandates the proscription of certain popular organisations, she said our proscription mechanism is not targeted at any particular organisation.

It is not an automatic mechanism for proscription, she added.