by Hamish McDonald
SECTION: News And Features; Stay In Touch; Pg. 20
A Hong Kong University poll has found 53.3 per cent of the territory’s
people are opposed to the new security law and only 16.4 per cent support
it.
University researchers who studied community submissions, which the
Government claimed showed overwhelming support, found most to be identical
form letters circulated by pro-Beijing organisations.
The security law, known as Article 23, outlaws a wide range of activities
regarded as subversive of communist rule or promoting separatism, and lets
local security authorities ban organisations that are also proscribed on the
mainland. The meditation movement Falun Gong and Chinese pro-democracy
advocates see Hong Kong’s days as a safe and free platform for expression
coming to an end.
Lawyers, journalists, corporate analysts, academics and filmmakers are also
worried by the law’s prohibition of disclosure of Chinese “state secrets”.
Posting date: 4/July/2003
Original article date: 3/July/2003
Category: Media Report
