National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill 2003 () was a proposed bill which aimed to amend the Crimes Ordinance, the Official Secrets Ordinance and the Societies Ordinance pursuant to the obligation imposed by Article 23 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and to provide for related, incidental and consequential amendments. The proposed bill caused considerable controversy in Hong Kong and a massive demonstration on 1 July 2003. In the aftermath, James Tien resigned from the Executive Council and the bill was withdrawn after it became clear that it would not get the necessary support from the Legislative Council for it to be passed. The bill was then shelved indefinitely.
Background
The Article 23 of the Basic Law (BL 23) states:
Before 1997, the government of British Hong Kong introduced the Crimes (Amendment)(No.2) Bill 1996 in an attempt to concretize the concepts of "subversion" and secession" by confining them to actual violent conduct but it failed as it was strongly opposed by the PRC government. The failure of this 1996 bill thus left a vacuum in the present legislation.
The government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) had delayed the matter and had successfully warded off any suggestion to enact a law. However the controversy over Article 23 began in mid-2002 when Qian Qichen, Vice Premier of the State Council, expressed the PRC government's desire for Hong Kong to pass the required legislation quickly. This prompted the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee-hwa to begin the process of drafting the said legislation. On 24 September 2002, the HKSAR government unveiled its Consultation Document on Proposals to Implement Article 23 of the Basic Law. Even before the publication of the consultation document, many groups such as the Hong Kong Bar Association and the Hong Kong Journalists Association had expressed grave concerns in July 2002 about the possible implementation of the Article 23. The three-month consultation ended in December after a demonstration on 15 December 2002 which drew almost 60,000 people against the proposal. In response, the government amended the proposal by giving several major "concessions" on the substance, but rejected the call for a white paper.
Content
The National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill was introduced to the Legislative Council on 26 February 2003 after a blue bill was published in the Gazette on 14 February. The bill was to provide for the following: the offences of treason, subversion, secession and sedition; the prohibition of unauthorized disclosure of certain official information; the proscription of certain organizations if it is necessary in the interests of national security and is proportionate for such purpose; the power of entry, search, seizure, detention and removal by the police without warrant for the investigation of treason, subversion, secession, sedition and handling seditious publication; the election of trial by jury in respect of sedition by inciting violent public disorder, handling seditious publication and any of the offences of unlawful disclosure; the removal of existing time limit for prosecution of offences; and related, incidental and consequential amendments. 50 out of the total 60 Legislative Council members joined the Bills Committee. Chaired by Ip Kwok-him of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) and his deputy Ambrose Lau of the Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (HKPA), the committee oversaw the fierce battle between the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy members. During the Bills Committee's deliberations on the bill, the government agreed to some amendments, but the critics said they were insufficient and the government's timetable of passing the bill in the Legislative Council did not allow sufficient time for deliberation.