Hong Kong Special Administrative Region file photo: Xinhua

 
A spokesperson for the Commissioner's Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Friday night expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to recent irresponsible remarks regarding the HKSAR’s rule of law and human rights conditions made by some Western politicians, including the foreign ministers of Canada and New Zealand, and the spokesperson of the European External Action Service. 

These politicians have made false accusations against the HKSAR police for lawfully arresting anti-China troublemakers disrupting Hong Kong, openly slandering the rule of law and human rights conditions in Hong Kong, and wantonly smearing the Hong Kong National Security Law, the spokesperson said in a post on the Commissioner's Office’s official WeChat account. 

The spokesperson emphasized that the so-called “Hong Kong Parliament” illegal election activities, initiated by Yuan Gongyi and others, seriously violate the Hong Kong National Security Law and constitute a farce aimed at subverting state power. These anti-China troublemakers disrupting Hong Kong are not “democrats” as claimed but lawbreakers and criminals. The HKSAR police, as a law enforcement agency, have a duty to investigate and prosecute those suspected of endangering national security abroad in accordance with the law, the spokesperson said.

The extraterritorial application of the Hong Kong National Security Law fully complies with principles of international law, international practices, and common global norms. According to international law, the legal basis for a state’s jurisdiction includes territorial, personal, and protective jurisdiction, with the latter two reflecting extraterritorial application, according to the spokesperson.

Articles 36 to 38 of the Hong Kong National Security Law specifically embody these principles. The HKSAR police’s enforcement actions against overseas anti-China troublemakers disrupting Hong Kong under these provisions are lawful, reasonable, and beyond reproach, the spokesperson added.

National security laws in several Western countries also apply extraterritorial jurisdiction based on personal and protective principles to combat serious crimes committed abroad. Certain politicians, ignoring fundamental legal principles, their own countries’ extraterritorial practices, and basic norms of international law and international relations, have arbitrarily attacked and smeared the Hong Kong National Security Law, exposing their hypocrisy and double standards, the spokesperson pointed out. 

China firmly rejects the fallacy of “transnational repression,” will not tolerate the malicious defamation and political manipulation of Hong Kong’s rule of law, and will not condone anyone who openly supports anti-China troublemakers disrupting Hong Kong, the spokesperson said.

The Commissioner’s Office supports the HKSAR government in steadfastly fulfilling its duty to safeguard national security, protect the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong residents in accordance with the law, and ensure the long-term and steady implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, the spokesperson stated.

Global Times