Crimes Ordinance Sedition versus Hong Kong’s National Security Law: different legal tools, same outcome?
The China Collection, January 6, 2022
Excerpt:
The use of the sedition provision is also part of a larger strategy by the government to diversify its national security toolkit: the Stand News arrests show that the government wants to move away from using the heavy artillery of the NSL in all cases, and instead wants to use different legal and criminal tools for different circumstances.This diversification of the national security toolkit will be a key part of the government’s strategy in 2022: Chief Executive Carrie Lam has made clear that Basic Law Article 23 national security legislation will be a key priority for the new year. Once that legislation is completed, the government will have an entire new set of national security laws that can be used to threaten, intimidate, or jail its political opponents. It can save the NSL itself for only the most high-priority targets.
