The Macao government said in a statement on Tuesday that it “firmly supports” the central government’s national security legislation for Hong Kong.
According to the statement released by the Macao Government Information Bureau (GCS), “the government of the Macao Special Administrative Region resolutely supports this important measure taken by the central government to maintain national security and social stability in Hong Kong.”
The statement noted that “effectively safeguarding national sovereignty, security and the nation’s development interests and safeguarding the constitutional order of the special administrative regions established by the Constitution and the Basic Law [of Hong Kong and Macao respectively] are key to ensuring the successful implementation of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ [principle].”
The statement also said that maintaining national security “is an inevitable requirement for ensuring the long-term stability of the country and maintaining the long-term prosperity and stability of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, [and] it is the common duty of all Chinese people, including the compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao.”
The statement underlined that Macao’s national security legislation was enacted in 2009 and that the “constitutional responsibility of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and the nation’s development interests has been effectively implemented, and national security has been achieved.”
The statement emphasised that “the good results have also laid a good foundation for the in-depth advancement of the related work to maintain national security.”
The statement also underlined that “since Macao’s return to the motherland, the Macao Special Administrative Region government has united all sectors of society to carry forward the fine tradition of patriotism and love for Macao, and resolutely fulfilled its constitutional responsibility of safeguarding national security and its due obligations to promote the successful practice of ‘One Country, Two Systems’.
“The national security work carried out by the Macao Special Administrative Region government has achieved ideal results with the strong support and active cooperation of all sectors of civil society.
“Through effective prevention and resistance to the intervention of external forces, it has effectively safeguarded the central government’s overall jurisdiction over Macao.”
The statement pointed out that without national security there could be no security in the nation’s two special administrative regions. The local government pledged to continue to improve and update Macao’s national security legislation.
‘Very significant event’
Meanwhile, Macao’s first chief executive, Edmund Ho Hau Wah, said in a separate statement on Tuesday that the approval of the national security legislation for Hong Kong by the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee was a “great and very significant event” for the further development of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle.
Ho underlined that the new law plugged loopholes in Hong Kong’s legal system and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security. By drawing a clear bottom line of national security, the law will act as a powerful deterrent against crimes endangering national security, he stressed.
Ho made the statement in his capacity as a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
