by B.H.
According to Martin Lee, Hong Kong’s leading opposition politician, the new Article 23 legislation proposed for Hong Kong was drafted to enable the Mainland Chinese government to outlaw Falun Gong on the territory.
Addressing students at Sydney University, Lee recalled that in 2002, several Beijing Officials held a press conference where Qian Qichen, then vice premier of China, asserted two things. Firstly that Hong Kong had not yet enacted laws under article 23 and should do it right away. Secondly, that Falun Gong should no longer be allowed in Hong Kong.
“…he just lumped the two things effectively together. That is why it is reasonable to assume that China wanted Hong Kong to legislate under article 23 in order to control the Falun Gong”, he said.
Having taken part in drafting Hong Kong’s post-1997 constitution, Martin Lee has been travelling the world to speak out against Article 23, legislation to be enacted in Hong Kong that deals with subversion, sedition and theft of state secrets. The Hong Kong government has received widespread opposition since proposing the bill in 2002, with many fearing that their freedoms are threatened. Such is the opposition that an estimated 500,000 protesters filled the streets of Hong Kong on July 1, the 6th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China from the British. Two high level Hong Kong officials have since resigned, and the party leader, Tung Chee-Hwa, is standing firm despite widespread calls for him to step down.
“Until [Article 23 was proposed], the Hong Kong government response to Falun Gong had always been a proper one,” said Martin Lee. “The Falun Gong have not committed any offences in Hong Kong, and so we must allow them to continue with what they do…They like to demonstrate in public, but they don’t even make use of a mike, they don’t even speak, they just do some breathing exercise, deep breathing, they breathe in a lot of air, but since there is still plenty of air in Hong Kong we won’t be worried about that.”
Lee recalled an incident in 2002 when he publicly praised Tung Chee-Hwa’s upholding of the “one country, two systems” policy in allowing Falun Gong practitioners to hold an international conference in Hong Kong’s city hall. “[On Mainland China] Falun Gong people are thrown into prison, thrown out of the country and so on, and Falun Gong people in Hong Kong can even host an international conference!” Yet Tung’s reaction was unexpected. “He slammed the table and said ‘I will not allow Hong Kong to become a centre of subversion!’” Lee was surprised by Tung’s harsh response until he realised that there was a Beijing official in the room who he suspected had been sent to supervise Tung. “When I praised him about Falun Gong I was giving him the kiss of death”, chuckled Lee.
Questioning the need for the new legislation, Martin Lee said: “Hong Kong indeed continued under Chinese law since 1st of July 1997 without any legislation under Article 23, and yet Hong Kong continued to do well. Politically, we were extremely stable.”
Lee said that the Hong Kong government’s rush to enact Article 23 had angered the Hong Kong people. “They had law meetings, 4 hours each, sometimes 2 meetings a day, that’s 8 hours a day, on this bill. It was ridiculous.”
Reiterating his pro-democracy, anti-Article 23 stance, Lee stated: “Mr Tung should take heed the strong feelings of Hong Kong people that their freedoms must not be whittled down by such a repressive piece of legislation as Article 23. And the HK people must be allowed to elect democratically their chief executive of 2007, and all the legislators by 2008, which is permitted by the basic law.
Yet despite the serious implications of Article 23, Martin Lee was optimistic. “Never have I felt so hopeful that Hong Kong will do very well under Deng Xiaoping’s policy of One-Country, Two Systems. And my hope sprang from the 1st of july march”, he said. “It made the government sit back and really think hard. Mr Tung himself acknowledged that he couldn’t sleep that night. I slept very well.”
Posting date: 20/Aug/2003
Original article date: 20/Aug/2003
Category: Media Report
