Hong Kong’s government and legislature have slammed the Washington Post for “baseless allegations” against the city’s new national security amendments.
According to one STATEMENT released late Saturday evening, the government ”strongly condemns the baseless defamation and baseless claims made by the Washington Post in its article titled “Hong Kong’s Nightmare Gets Darker,” criticizing the National Security Protection (Procedural Matters) Regulation (Procedural Matters Regulation).
“The article clearly exposes The Washington Post’s unreasonable anti-China stance and double standards, falling far short of what is expected of professional journalism,” the government also said.
The statement was in response to a editorial published on Friday, in which the newspaper criticized Hong Kong approval of new by-laws.
The new legislation, which allows the chief executive to certify any criminal case as a national security offence, DID effective Tuesday, the day after the government proposed the bill in the Legislative Council (LegCo).
In the editorial, the paper said: “These changes will further chill foreign investment. But the biggest victims are Hong Kongers themselves.”
The government said the news organization’s “ignorance of facts and betrayal of basic principles of responsible journalism is shocking, irresponsible and completely unacceptable behavior for any media organisation”.
Echoing remarks made by chief executive John Lee and other senior officialsthe statement said the new legislation only aims to clarify a “classification mechanism” under the country’s national security ordinance (SNSO) and Beijing-imposed national security law.
“It does not create any new offenses or change the penalties for any offences. It certainly does not turn any lawful conduct into an offence. It is not applicable to legal proceedings that have been completed,” the government said.
In a special STATEMENT On Sunday, the LegCo convened after the government condemned The Washington Post for publishing the “untrue” editorial and its “anti-Chinese motives.”
The Legislature fielded about 60 comments and reviewed every single provision in detail and was satisfied the regulation met all requirements, he said.
“LegCo will, as always, resolutely support the full and accurate implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law, Ordinance and other relevant laws of the HKSAR to safeguard national security,” he said.
