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Anti-sanctions law will be wielded with care, Hong Kong justice minister vows

  • Fresh off her four-day visit to Beijing, Teresa Cheng offers assurances the law will only be used to counter unreasonable sanctions on the city and country
  • She refuses to say whether the national law will be inserted into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, and dismisses concerns doing so would amount to a trend

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Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng meets the press on Tuesday after her trip to Beijing. Photo: May Tse

Hong Kong’s justice minister has sought to ease anxiety over the implications for financial institutions when the city adopts Beijing’s anti-sanctions law, saying the legislation will be used only in retaliation for punitive actions taken by foreign governments.

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In an interview with the Post and other media on Tuesday following her recent trip to the Chinese capital, Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah said: “I know some of us may be very concerned. But I think we shouldn’t be too worried for now.”

Having discussed the issue with mainland Chinese “legal minds” during her four-day trip, Cheng stressed that the law would be strictly retaliatory in nature as a counter to unreasonable sanctions imposed on the city and the country by foreign governments.

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China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, is set to meet in mid-August to decide the adoption of Beijing’s legislation by Hong Kong on a local level.

Sources have said this will be done by inserting relevant provisions into the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, but Cheng said it was “too early” for such specifics.

However, she defended the central government’s right to take such a step if necessary, shrugging off worries that it might become a “trend” after Beijing introduced the city’s national security law in the same manner last year.
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“I think it’s absolutely wrong to use that word. The Basic Law, when read as a whole, permits the national law to be put into annex III when it is foreign affairs, national security or matters that are not within the autonomy of Hong Kong,” she said.

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