Guo Weimin:

Thank you, Mr. Shen. Now let's welcome Mr. Zhang Xiaoming to give his introduction.

Zhang Xiaoming:

Good morning, friends from the media. Today marks the festive 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland and the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Let us first offer wishes for a happy holiday to more than 7.5 million residents there. Many friends here may have noticed two identical numbers in the topic of today's press conference, that is, we have waited for 23 years for implementing Article 23 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Now, finally, we have the promulgation and implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It can indeed be said that it was bound to happen like this, and that is just the way it is. It is an incident in history, yet being inevitable as it is in line with the law of development. Taking this opportunity, I would like to share thoughts on four points in regard to the significance and influence of this law.

First, the law marks a milestone in advancing the cause of "one country, two systems."

We were bound to encounter many challenges when pushing forward the unprecedented "one country, two systems" cause, with a need to address new problems continuously. Since the return of Hong Kong, the central government has made five interpretations and four decisions on issues related to the implementation of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. However, this time, it was the NPC that made the decision and the NPC Standing Committee that enacted the law, making it the most important measure taken by the central government in handling Hong Kong affairs. This is the second important law undertaken by the Central Government tailored to the needs of Hong Kong after the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It embodies the general requirements for the comprehensive and accurate implementation of the "one country, two systems" policy, further incorporating its principles and the fundamental bottom line into law, and building a firm institutional protective screen to prevent and control national security risks in the region, with far-reaching influence for the steady implementation of "one country, two systems."

Second, this law represents a new landmark in the central authorities' efforts to improve the governance of Hong Kong.

The central government has long been exploring a major topic: how could we under the principle of "one country, two systems" improve the governance of Hong Kong, a city that retains a capitalist system and has a complicated social and political situation? Last fall, the fourth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) came up with important measures for improving the framework of "one country, two systems," bearing in mind the overall picture of advancing the modernization of China's system and capacity for governance. This law constitutes an important step to implement these improvements. The legislation embodies the growing importance the central authorities attach to the top-level design of the system for the governance of Hong Kong, to the rule of law mentality, to addressing in a flexible way both the symptoms and root causes of a problem, to better utilizing the rights provided to the central authorities by China's Constitution and the HKSAR Basic Law and effectively integrating them into the city's governance system so that the overall development of the situation in Hong Kong is well reined in. All of them will be transformed into governance efficacy in the future.