Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang told state-owned newspaper Wen Wei Po on Monday that the Hong Kong government is addressing “soft resistance” and online behavior that might threaten national security in its efforts to implement Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law.

The term “soft resistance” refers to subtle methods of sowing distrust in the government. Article 23 mandates the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to pass its own laws to prohibit crimes such as treason, secession, sedition, and subversion against China’s Central People’s Government.

Previously, Tang stated on May 11 that the HKSAR has a constitutional obligation to legislate Article 23 in accordance with Article 7 of the Hong Kong National Security Law which mandates that “[t]he [HKSAR] shall complete, as early as possible, legislation for safeguarding national security as stipulated in the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and shall refine relevant laws”.

In implementing Article 23, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee put forward that “[c]ompleting the legislation of Article 23 is not simply finishing a task. We need a suitable and effective law to safeguard national security. If we only want to get the job done and ignore certain risks, we will fail our constitutional duty, Hong Kong and our country.”

In addition, Lee proffered that Hong Kong needs to be careful about promulgating Article 23 as “soft resistance” activities exist. Lee stated that:

Some countries are targeting and suppressing the development of our country with unfriendly measures. We need to understand that under this kind of international environment it is not surprising that these countries are trying to keep us from succeeding … Some actions that do not violate the law are also destructive, including false and negative information that leads to social instability and lets people think irrationally. Those are also meant to prevent our success and we have to stay vigilant.

While Beijing passed Hong Kong’s National Security Law on June 30, 2020, the HKSAR espoused that a local security law is required to fill in “gaps” in the National Security Law, which was mainly promulgated to safeguard national security. Lee said that Article 23 will “definitely” be enacted within this or next year.