Hong Kong needs an anti-subversion law to safeguard against terrorism and separatist movements, the territory's security chief said in her latest defense of proposed legislation that democracy activists fear would threaten the territory's freedoms.
"The fact that we have not been so threatened ... does not mean these threats do not exist," Secretary for Security Regina Ip said in comments published Thursday in the English-language South China Morning Post. "Who says separatist threats are not to be taken seriously? What about other threats, like treason or subversion?"
Responding to critics who contend Hong Kong doesn't need proposed anti-subversion legislation, Ip said the terrorist attacks in New York and Bali, and the SARS outbreak, were reminders to "guard against threats that are unimaginable and unknown."
The comments were excerpts from a speech Ip gave to the Hong Kong Democratic Foundation, an independent pro-democracy group, on Monday.
Hong Kong has drafted a law that would ban subversion, sedition and other crimes against the state, required by the constitution set when this former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The local legislature, dominated by pro-government lawmakers, is expected to enact the law next month, at the government's request.
Pro-democracy groups argue that existing laws are adequate to handle security offenses.
"We should not give up our fundamental rights for the sake of guarding against terrorism," said Law Yuk-kai of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor.
Opposition lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan expressed concern about a provision of the draft law that would allow Hong Kong to outlaw groups subordinate to mainland organizations banned on national security grounds.
"This provision is nothing to do with the violence that Ip mentioned," Lee said.
Some fear the law could be used to target the spiritual group Falun Gong - labeled an "evil cult" on the mainland but still legal in Hong Kong.
The territory's Western-style civil liberties were guaranteed under an autonomy arrangement set when it returned to Beijing. Ip and other officials have insisted that they do not intend to target any particular people or groups.