Hong Kong will consider whether a “public interest” exemption should be included in the theft of state secrets offence under a proposed new security law, security chief Chris Tang has said.
Speaking at the Legislative Council (LegCo) on Tuesday afternoon, Tang said he had noted that some people thought leaks made in “significant public interest” should be exempted from prosecution. “We will give it thorough consideration after hearing from the public,” Tang said in Cantonese.
Authorities released a consultation paper on the enactment of security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law on Tuesday, marking the beginning of a one-month consultation period during which people can offer feedback on the proposals laid out in the document.
The new legislation will cover five types of crime: treason, insurrection, theft of state secrets and espionage, sabotage endangering national security, and external interference.
Officials have vowed to pass the legislation in 2024, with Chief Executive John Lee saying the city “can’t wait” during a press conference to announce the consultation period on Tuesday.
“While the society as a whole looks calm and very safe, we still have to watch out for potential sabotage and undercurrents that try to create troubles,” Lee said. Pro-democracy advocates and the foreign commerce sector, however, have raised concerns over the impact the law will have on civil liberties.
Dominic Lee, a pro-establishment lawmaker and member of the New People’s Party, told Tang at LegCo on Tuesday afternoon that some journalists had shared concerns about the offence linked to state secrets, as journalism often involved in getting and disclosing information.
“[Reporters] are worried that they will violate the law by accident,” Dominic Lee said in Cantonese.
Lawmakers suggested authorities should offer an exemption if the information disclosed was in the public interest, with detailed guidelines outlining under which circumstances exemptions may be issued.
In response, Tang said that he believed the public could use “common sense” to figure out what was a state secret and what was not.
“For example, if the information is about the weather forecast, then it has nothing to do with national secrets; if it’s about defence deployment, then it’s linked to national secrets,” Tang said. He added that people would also be able to identify documents containing sensitive information if they had been stamped “high-level government secrets.”
“We have heard concerns about violating the law by accident, and whether it will consider significant public interest. Those voices have been heard. We need more discussion about what constitutes ‘significant public interest’,” Tang said.
Ronny Tong, a pro-establishment politician and a member of the Executive Council, said on RTHK on Wednesday morning that he did not think public interest was a valid exemption when it came to state secret leaks.
“That’s my personal opinion – the government might not agree… If you are harming national security, it has nothing to do with public interest,” Tong said in Cantonese.
Tong also said that China had its Law of the People’s Republic of China on Guarding State Secrets.
“We need to respect the country’s definition of state secrets… I think it’s impossible if some information is considered as state secrets by the country, and it is not when it comes to Hong Kong, and vice versa… Consistency in the definition is critical, ” Tong said.
What are ‘state secrets’?
According to the consultation paper, the government will amend the Official Secrets Ordinance to introduce the term “state secrets,” thus outlawing five types of offences linked to unlawful disclosure of state information.
The document states seven types of state secrets, including: secrets “concerning major policy decisions on affairs” of HK; secrets “concerning the construction of national defence or armed forces”; secrets “concerning diplomatic or foreign affair activities; secrets concerning technology and science development of China or Hong Kong; and secrets “concerning activities for safeguarding national security. “
Secrets “concerning the economic and social development or our country or the HKSAR” and secrets “concerning the relationship between the Central Authorities and the HKSAR” are also considered state secrets.
The proposed offences are: “unlawful acquisition of state secrets”; “unlawful possession of state secrets”; “unlawful disclosure of state secrets”; “unlawful disclosure of information that appears to be confidential matter”; and “unlawful possession of state secrets when leaving HK”.
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