Toronto Star: Canada Slams Hong Kong bill

By Martin Regg Cohn

Graham calls proposed security legislation troubling

Would leave territory open to crackdown from Beijing

Jun. 24, 2003

HONG KONG--Canada has added its voice to international criticism of proposed national security legislation here, warning it could erode Hong Kong's distinctiveness from the Chinese mainland.

Canada's top diplomat in Hong Kong, Consul General Tony Burger, delivered the message to Hong Kong's government that Ottawa fears legitimate opposition groups could be unjustly blacklisted as "subversive organizations."

A controversial package of national security laws, known as Article 23, fails to insulate Hong Kong citizens from any future crackdown by Beijing.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham applied extra pressure yesterday during a visit to China, saying in an interview that Hong Kong should take corrective measures to preserve its distinctive legal system.

Graham said he remained troubled by the legislation and urged Hong Kong to exercise its full autonomy rather than merely accept what is handed down in Beijing.

"We had serious reservations about Article 23 because it blurred the distinction between what is a subversive organization for Hong Kong purposes and what is a subversive organization in China itself," he said.

"We've urged them to change that, to be more reflective of the fact that Hong Kong has to have an ability to define for its own purposes what is a subversive organization -- not just inherit these definitions that are handed down to them by China."

Graham said he was unconcerned by Beijing's warnings that foreigners should not meddle in Hong Kong's deliberations because these are "China's internal affair," as a spokesperson said last week.

The minister said that in meetings yesterday with Chinese officials he repeated Canadian complaints about abuses against members of the banned Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) meditation group, [...]

Critics of the Hong Kong legislation fear Falun Dafa would be most vulnerable to a future crackdown because it is already [banned] on the mainland.

[...]

In a statement yesterday, the Consulate General announced "Canada shares the concern expressed by others regarding the provisions of the bill" that would ban organizations linked to mainland groups deemed a threat to national security by Beijing.

The wording in the legislation dealing with so-called "subversive organizations" would blur the distinction between Hong Kong's separate common law system and the often arbitrary legal structure of Communist China.

Referring to the framework of "one country, two systems" that is supposed to govern Hong Kong's autonomous relationship with Beijing since Britain handed its former colony back to Chinese sovereignty six years ago, the Canadian statement warned that the new laws "blur this distinction and hence the separation between the law of Hong Kong and the law of the mainland. It is Canada's view that ... it is important to retain this distinction."

Canada's intervention comes in the wake of strong criticism last week by the White House that the legislation "as currently drafted, could harm local freedoms and autonomy over time."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said from Beijing "this is China's internal affair," adding "it's not appropriate for others to point any accusation against China."

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