Thursday, 05-Dec-2002

HONG KONG, Dec 5 (AFP) - Martin Lee, Hong Kong's most prominent opposition politician, on Thursday branded proposed anti-subversion legislation "evil" and said he would oppose it with all the means at his disposal.

"I will fight it with everything in my power," Lee, who stepped down as chairman of Hong Kong's Democratic Party Sunday, told an audience at the Foreign Correspondents' Club here.

"I will not exclude anything," he said in response to a question whether he advocated mass civil disobedience.

Under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the territory's post-1997 mini-constitution, Hong Kong is obliged to pass laws banning treason, sedition, subversion and theft of state secrets.

Many civil groups and professional organizations have expressed fears China was pushing the territory to rush the legislation through in order to control the media, free speech and religion.

A number of foreign governments, including the United States and the United Kingdom, Hong Kong's former colonial power, have also voiced concern.

Lee said it was possible to legislate under Article 23 without adversely affecting the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, but certain provisions had to be dropped.

He renewed calls for a "white paper" to detail the contents of the new law, noting the Hong Kong government's decision to seek consensus with Beijing both on the timing and the contents of the law had gone against Article 23's explicit stipulation that it should legislate "on its own."

His use of the word "evil" referred to sections dealing with foreign political parties, organizations and groups.

The draft legislation gave Beijing the power to certify certain groups were "a threat to national security" on the mainland, Lee said.

Such power means if a Hong Kong organization was an affiliate of the mainland group, the Hong Kong group would also be considered a threat to national security.

Once Beijing made such a judgement, neither the Hong Kong government nor the Hong Kong judiciary would have the power to change it, said Lee.

Hong Kong's branch of Falun Gong, for example, [...] outlawed on the mainland, could be defined as a threat to national security and banned.

The same logic could also be applied to opposition political parties and other mainstream religious groups, he warned.

The government of Hong Kong on Wednesday meanwhile reiterated its position that no decision by mainland China to proscribe any organization would "automatically" be extended to an organization in Hong Kong.

"Any decision to proscribe an organization in Hong Kong must be made in accordance with international human rights standards," the security department said in a statement.

"Such a decision is subject to judicial review and appeal mechanisms in the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)," it added without referring explicitly to the question of "certification."

http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bc/Qhongkong-democracy-lee.RpwN_CD5.html