The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government on July 3 signaled its absolute intolerance of any violations of its National Security Law for Hong Kong (NSL) as it announced the court-approved arrest warrants for eight suspects who have fled overseas, having allegedly committed criminal activities in violation of the NSL. Concurrently, a reward of HK$1 million ($127,700) for any information leading to their arrest and successful prosecution was also announced.
In making these announcements, the police also revealed the criminal activities of these wanted individuals, and the fact that they continued such activities to harm China while in foreign countries. Specifically, they have advocated for separatism and Hong Kong independence, urged the people of Hong Kong to overthrow the Hong Kong SAR and central governments, and lobbied Western governments to sanction the HKSAR officials, and even judges and prosecutors, to undermine the rule of law in Hong Kong. Among their most heinous crimes was when Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, a barrister and former legislator, proposed to foreign politicians that they take extreme measures to sabotage Hong Kong’s Linked Exchange Rate System, thereby undermining Hong Kong’s status as an international financial center. Their actions are akin to those who collaborated with the Japanese occupying force in Hong Kong in the 1940s, using local knowledge to help Japanese invaders hurt Chinese compatriots. In other words, Kwok and his cohorts, just as those collaborators of the Japanese occupiers, are traitors to their motherland.
I watched the police news conference to announce the measures to apprehend the fugitives and was astonished by the poor standards of the media questions. For instance, one reporter asked how a Hong Kong resident could commit an offense when not in Hong Kong!
Clearly, the news reporter does not have any concept of extraterritorial offenses, a basic principle of the rule of law. Extraterritorial offenses are not new and have existed in our law books since British era. For example, Section 4 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, enacted in 1971, stipulates that any person, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere, who offers, solicits, or accepts any advantage (bribe) commits an offense and is liable to seven years’ imprisonment. This is common sense; otherwise, people could just go to Macao to engage in all the corrupt transactions.
Similarly, Articles 37 and 38 of the NSL apply to people outside Hong Kong, whether they are Hong Kong permanent residents or not. This is not unusual. All countries’ national security laws have similar provisions for extraterritorial offenses. For instance, in 2012, Abu Hamza al-Masri, an Islamic cleric, was accused of providing material support to al-Qaeda and involvement in a hostage-taking incident in Yemen in 1998. Despite the acts taking place outside the United States, he was arrested in the United Kingdom, extradited to the US for trial for national security offenses, and convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Other high-profile cases, such as those concerning Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, are also actively pursued by the US government for their acts outside the US.
Another question that reflects poorly on the Hong Kong media was the attempt by one reporter to ridicule the police for just putting on a political show since there is little chance of these people getting arrested and prosecuted.
Again, the reporter showed himself to have little basic knowledge of law enforcement. The police announcement is standard law enforcement practice, just as in the US when its FBI announces its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
As the police explained at the news conference, this is a case in which a Hong Kong court had approved the issue of arrest warrants for these eight suspects. As someone with experience in applying for arrest warrants in the magistracy, I can testify that on each occasion, the magistrate would carefully examine the evidence and ask pertinent questions until satisfied that there was prima-facie evidence of the offense before issuing the arrest warrants. The issuance of magistrate warrants demonstrated that the police accusations against these eight individuals were based on concrete evidence.
Once arrest warrants are issued, it is only appropriate for the police to announce their existence and seek public assistance in bringing the suspects to justice. This is standard practice for law enforcement agencies worldwide. You only need to check on the FBI website to see that there is always a prominent display of their wanted people. Providing rewards for information leading to the arrest of wanted people is standard practice. For the FBI’s most-wanted people, the rewards range from $100,000 to $5 million. The highest reward offered by the FBI currently is for the arrest of the leader of a terrorist group in Somalia.
The message is loud and clear: Anyone who commits a national security offense will be relentlessly pursued until justice is served, no matter the cost or distance
Hence, the media announcement is not a political show but part of standard enforcement practice. The police will follow up the case with investigations on the accomplices of these eight suspects, whether in Hong Kong or elsewhere. One of their accomplices is likely to be a Chinese male who stole the national flag and the SAR flag from flagpoles in Yuen Long and dumped them into a nearby sewer. This happened in the evening after the police news conference.
Other likely accomplices are those who assisted the fugitives in promoting their messages on social media. Police have rightly warned people not to forward the subversive messages as this can be construed as aiding-and-abetting offenses under the NSL.
Another effective enforcement action is to freeze the assets of these eight individuals in Hong Kong, including bank accounts and other properties, and to trace all those who have provided funding to them presently and in the past, to cut off all funding for their illegal activities.
In my view, the most important message of the news conference is the deterrent effect on potential NSL offenders. They should know that once arrest warrants are issued and publicized, these eight people are officially branded as “traitors”, bringing shame to themselves and their families. One legislator has already publicly announced the severance of her relationship with one of the wanted people. The suspects are now socially ostracized, and I suspect they would not dare go anywhere near Chinatowns. They would be reluctant to travel because if their plane were to land in a place with an extradition agreement with the central government or the HKSAR, they would likely be extradited. Many of these people have little means of financial support, relying on donations in the past. With their funding cut off, they will soon face financial problems.
Lastly, these wanted people should know that the relationship between Western governments and China can change drastically overnight when the Western government realizes that their ultimate economic interest requires them to befriend China. When this happens, these fugitives from crime will be dumped without hesitation!
As the chief executive said, the best course of action for the wanted people is to surrender themselves in the hope that they might be treated leniently. In the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) cases, there is a sentencing guideline from the Supreme Court in the 1970s. Offenders who are prepared to plead guilty and assist the law enforcement agency can have two-thirds of their normal sentence reduced. This is a good bargain they should consider, or they will have to resign themselves to living a miserable life on the run in a foreign land, always in fear of being caught!
National security is the foundation of all stable societies. Without it, there can be no economic prosperity, political stability, or social harmony. It behooves all residents to do their part to ensure national security. It is, therefore, the responsibility of us all to help the police bring these fugitives to book. There is no room to compromise national security.
The message is loud and clear: Anyone who commits a national security offense will be relentlessly pursued until justice is served, no matter the cost or distance.
The author is an honorary fellow of HKU Space and a council member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.