Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam stated the nationwide security law was “absolutely necessary” to guarantee Hong Kong’s stability.
In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Lam stated: “Looking back, I think the enactment and implementation of a national security law, as well as the subsequent improvements to the electoral system, are absolutely necessary to ensure Hong Kong’s continuous stability and prosperity.”
“And if I may just add, stability is extremely important for Hong Kong to maintain and enhance status as an international financial center,” Hong Kong’s president informed CNBC’s Emily Tan and Martin Soong.
Lam likewise stated the exodus of migrants and immigrants from Hong Kong in current months was not due to the freshly enacted nationwide security law– seen by some as Beijing’s tightening up of its grip over the city– however as an outcome of the the stringent pandemic controls and steps that “make people very impatient.”
Carrie Lam, president of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, speaks at an interview in Hong Kong, south China,Feb 4, 2022.
Lui Siu Wai|Xinhua News Agency|Getty Images
‘One nation, 2 systems’
When individuals grumble there’s no flexibility, this is not the circumstance in HongKong Hong Kong is as complimentary as ever.
Carrie Lam
Hong Kong president
Lam firmly insisted that Hong Kong’s flexibilities and autonomy stayed undamaged and had actually not ended ahead of 2047, in spite of propaganda pressed by some Western media outlets.
“I sometimes find it very disturbing that a lot of Western media try to portray Hong Kong as just another Chinese city and have no proper recognition or understanding of ‘one country, two systems,'” she stated.
She stated mainland Chinese authorities thought that the “one country, two systems” concept was the “best institutional arrangement to ensure Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity.”
Alongside Beijing, Lam stated she anticipated the “continuation of what is in the Basic Law, including the upholding of the individual rights and freedoms, the practice of Hong Kong’s capitalist system, and all the high degree of autonomy that has been given to Hong Kong.”
“When people complain there’s no freedom, this is not the situation in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is as free as ever, whether it’s in the freedom of expression, in the freedom of assembly, in the media, and so on.”
National security law
Despite the demonstrations and riots, the application of the nationwide security law and the earlier extradition costs were required for Hong Kong to discover its feet around the best laws to secure nationwide interests, Lam stated.
She stated this was vital as Hong Kong had yet to develop its own organizations and legal systems to secure nationwide interests, security and sovereignty more than twenty years after the handover to China.
Freedoms are not outright. Freedoms need to be sort of restrained, where there is a public interest. And no public interest might be more remarkable than nationwide interest.
Carrie Lam
Hong Kong president
Growing discomforts became part of this emancipation as seen with other demonstrations prior to 2019, consisting of the 79- day Occupy Central motion in 2014 when demonstrators required direct, universal suffrage to pick the city’s leader, Lam stated.
“Freedoms are not absolute,” Lam informed CNBC. “Freedoms have to be sort of restrained, where there is a public interest. And no public interest could be more superior than national interest.”
“So every place should have rules and laws in place to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests of the nation. Before the enactment of the national security law, Hong Kong was a vacuum insofar as those institutions and laws are concerned.”
On Covid and sanctions
Ahead of the two-year anniversary of the enactment of the nationwide security law, the city continues to suffer increasing departures of foreign skill and worldwide operations, however Lam stated it was a short-term blip.
Hong Kong’s durability is on complete screen with the variety of individuals taking a trip to the city rising because the relaxation of quarantine durations to one week and the lifting of the restriction on tourists from 9 nations consisting of the UK and the U.S. on April 1, Lam stated.
Daily arrivals at Hong Kong worldwide airport increased ten-fold to 3,000 a day compared to 300 when the complete suite of limitations remained in location prior to April, according toLam
… in order to perform our responsibility of commitment, we should not be frightened– whether it is by abuse, by force, by sanctions or other methods.
Carrie Lam
Hong Kong president
Hong Kong’s stringent Covid-19 containment techniques were required to secure Hong Kong’s essential travel passage into the mainland, Lam stated, however rejected they were simply a copy of the mainland’s China’s no-Covid technique that has actually resulted in whole cities such as Shanghai closed down and financially maimed.
“The Hong Kong SAR government has a high degree of autonomy in determining how to tackle a public health crisis. But the reality is, our people need to travel to the mainland, but at the same time, we need a very strong international connectivity,” she stated.
“That’s why throughout the last two and half years, we have been trying to strike a balance that will enable us to meet both objectives.”
In a few of her last parting words prior to she leaves workplace to give way for brand-new Hong Kong leader-in-waiting John Lee on July 1, Lam states she will be shaking off the sanctions the U.S. laid on her and other senior in 2020 over the handling of the city’s demonstrations over flexibilities.
“I think those who impose sanctions on other people, on other places, have to reflect upon using this instrument to achieve their objective(s),” she stated.
” I and 11 other authorities in Hong Kong [were] strongly and unreasonably approved by the U.S. federal government, however they will not frighten us. I have no remorses and I have no issue with that.”
“I would also give this piece of advice to my successor and other senior officials: That in order to perform our duty of loyalty, we must not be intimidated — whether it is by abuse, by force, by sanctions or other means.”
