April 15 is designated as National Security Education Day. The objective is to raise public awareness of national security, encouraging a public consciousness of the importance of safeguarding national security, enhancing the capability to fend off national security threats, deepening public understanding of the Constitution, the Basic Law and national security legislation, and fostering a sense of national identity. There are of course many ways to achieve the above objectives, but the best is to demonstrate with successful enforcement cases.
To this end, a vote of thanks should be given to the police force’s National Security Department (NSD) for their excellent efforts and successes in these two years after the department was established basically from scratch with hardly any experience for guidance. In these two years, NSD has made a strong impact on enforcement with the arrest of a number of leading opposition figures for their involvement in illegal public protest marches as well as a subversive election campaign, while other subversive elements either were arrested or have absconded overseas to escape punishment. In the process, NSD has created strong deterrence against foreign subversive interference in Hong Kong.
One of their initial successes was the unearthing of secret pro-independence groups set to use terrorism to disturb the peace in Hong Kong. One resulted in the arrest of over 10 persons of the “Returning Valiant” group in connection with bomb plots. The group included the financier, the bomb makers and teenagers who were recruited with monetary rewards to plant bombs in courts, tunnels and streets in a series of attacks. Police discovered a Tsim Sha Tsui guest house had been turned into a makeshift explosives factory. It was at the final stages of preparing the attacks. This case demonstrates the potential deadly impact of national security offenses on ordinary residents.
There is clear evidence that media and social media are the favorite means used by Western powers to launch color revolutions to overthrow foreign governments they dislike. The 2019 insurrection riots demonstrated how the media can brainwash naive young people into doing their terrorist bidding by first engendering in them an irrational hatred of the Communist Party of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government. The more radical among them would march in the streets carrying United States and British flags, and throwing petrol bombs at the police. NSD succeeded in taking action against two key subversive media — the Apple Daily and the Stand News. It is interesting to note that once the police had apprehended the black hands behind the riots and exposed them for that they are, many of these young and naive rioters expressed remorse and admitted to being misled in their mitigation pleas in court. In due course, their roles in breaching national security, and their collusion with foreign governments, will be fully exposed in the open court when the main culprits are tried on national security charges. Such real-life court cases present the most effective education on national security.
The other main source of brainwashing our younger generation are their teachers. This is shown by the fact that 40 percent of those arrested in the 2019 riots are in fact students, largely influenced by their teachers who belonged to the Hong Kong Professional Teachers Union (PTU) which in reality is an anti-China subversive organization. The NSD’s investigation had unearthed enough evidence to enable the Education Bureau to strip its status as a professional teachers’ union, thereby saving our next generation from further harmful ideological indoctrination. It also marks a new chapter in national education, which the PTU had been trying to block.
The lack of national security law after reunification has enabled foreign powers to exploit the legal loophole in setting up subversive organizations in Hong Kong. The Civil Human Rights Front is probably one of those organizations. Media reports revealed that it had received $300,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy, an arm of the CIA of the United States, set up largely to instigate and support color revolutions in other countries. Hence its disbandment announced in August last year was greeted by Hong Kong residents with delight and relief. The disbandment is clearly as a result of NSD police investigations and the organization tried to evade criminal culpability by disbandment. This is national security public education by revealing the true face of such so-called human rights organizations in Hong Kong.
Finally, the court proceedings so far have dispelled foreign “concerns” over the impact of the National Security Law for Hong Kong on our rule of law. The judgment of the first national security case, on the conviction of restaurant worker Leon Tong Ying-kit on terrorism and secession charges, offered ample evidence that common law principles continued to be rigidly followed in arriving at the conviction. To enhance public education, I reiterate my earlier suggestion that the judges’ delivery of reasons for the verdict should be televised live in open court to show how the National Security Law is being applied in real life, proving once again that the media is undoubtedly the most effective means to educate the public on national security as it is easily accessible. The NSD can draw from the experience of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in partnering with local television stations in producing TV dramas based on actual cases, which have always been popular with TV audiences throughout all these years.
The fact that our society is finally able to return to normalcy and peace is a tribute to the salutary influence of the NSD. Their vigilance and enforcement successes are the best education for the public on national security and to raise their awareness. The whole community should give a vote of thanks to NSD for their excellent work and maintain a strong partnership with it to ensure long-lasting stability and prosperity in Hong Kong.
The author is an adjunct professor of HKU Space, and a council member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies. He is an international anti-corruption consultant and was previously a deputy commissioner of the ICAC.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.