BRICS, China-HK Riots/Analysis: National laws can be applied to Hong Kong in extreme situation: experts

Aug 8, 2019, CCTV Plus (China) http://www.cctvplus.com/news/20190814/8118739.shtml#!language=1
 

Hong Kong, China - Aug 8, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)

1. Various of Golden Bauhinia Square

Beijing, China - Aug 13, 2019 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Liao Fan, law professor, Department of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (starting with shot 1):
"If, let me say, in the most serious situation, we can find the answer in Article 31 or Article 18 of the Basic Law, which specified that in such extreme situations where those kind of disturbance threats the national security and public order, and the Hong Kong government cannot deal with this properly, then the National People's Congress made it clear a state of emergency, and the central government, under this situation, may decide that those national laws that usually do not apply to Hong Kong will apply to Hong Kong. So I mean, we're talking about potentially national security law or even criminal law, I'm not sure, but that could be the consequence."

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China - July 27, 2019 (HKTVB - No access Chinese mainland/Hong Kong/Taiwan)
3. Various of unrest on street, riot police officers trying to barricade themselves

Beijing, China - Aug 13, 2019 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Tim Summers, senior consulting fellow, Chatham House (starting with shot 3/ending with shots 5-6):

"Well, the Basic Law, there's a couple of articles that are relevant in the Basic Law that do allow for the authorities, if there's a state of emergency or if there's a breakdown in public order, they are able to call on the help and support of the mainland authorities that could be through the PLA station in Hong Kong, or through some other means. So the Basic Law, I think does give some provision for that sort of action to be taken."

Hong Kong, China - July 27, 2019 (HKTVB - No access Chinese mainland/Hong Kong/Taiwan)
5. Various of rioters throwing fire extinguishers, spraying water onto police

Hong Kong, China - Aug 11, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of police officers enforcing law

Beijing, China - Aug 13, 2019 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Liao Fan, law professor, Department of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences:
"Generally speaking, I have to say Hong Kong police is one of the world's best police, I would say, in terms of their capability, in terms of their professionalism. But in this case, I have to say, that's my personal opinion, maybe they have sort of under-estimated the seriousness of this activity. Because every signal points to that, this points to possible conclusion that this is not a simple activity organized by innocent students. There could be some vicious force behind that."

Hong Kong, China - Aug 12, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of illegal tools seized by police from rioters

Beijing, China - Aug 13, 2019 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Einar Tangen, current affairs commentator with CGTN:
"The rhetoric is amplifying and now these demonstrators have moved from the peaceful side to more violence and now they are approaching to be terrorists. These are people who are holding their fellow people hostage, trying to make sure that they feel afraid, make interrupting their ability to get to work, to get to hospitals, to travel. And this is not only just them, there are threatening the very lifeblood of Hong Kong, which depends on trade, the financial side."

FILE: Hong Kong, China - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Various of buildings along Victoria Harbor

Storyline

Chinese national laws can be applied to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) when the SAR government could no longer control the turmoil in the most serious situation, experts said in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Tuesday.
Vandalism spread in Hong Kong in the past week with persistent large-scale illegal and violent acts, some public facilities were closed early, and emergency services and commercial activities were obstructed.

Liao Fan, a law professor of the Department of International Cooperation at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said if such a situation continues, the central authorities have ample methods as well as sufficient strength to promptly settle the turmoil according to the Basic Law (of the Hong Kong SAR).

"If, let me say, in the most serious situation, we can find the answer in Article 31 or Article 18 of the Basic Law, which specify that in such extreme situations where those kinds of disturbance threat the national security and public order and the Hong Kong government cannot deal with this properly, then the National People's Congress makes it clear a state of emergency, and the central government, under this situation, may decide that those national laws that usually do not apply to Hong Kong will apply to Hong Kong. So I mean, we're talking about potentially like national security law or even criminal law, I'm not sure, but that could be the consequence," he said.

Tim Summers, a senior consulting fellow with the Chatham House, also said there are relevant articles in the Basic Law that allow the central authorities to take action in Hong Kong.

"Well, the Basic Law, there's a couple of articles that are relevant in the Basic Law that do allow for the authorities' if there's a state of emergency or if there's a breakdown in public order, they're able to call on the help and support of the mainland. Authorities that could be through the PLA stationed in Hong Kong, pass through some other means. So the Basic Law, I think, does give some provision for that sort of action to be taken," he said.

At a news conference on Monday, the Hong Kong police said they arrested 149 people from Friday to Monday for offenses including unlawful assembly, assaulting police officers, obstructing official duties and possession of assault weapons. The police also seized illegal items used by the riots as weapons.

"Generally speaking, I have to say the Hong Kong police is one of the world's best police, I would say, in terms of their capability, in terms of their professionalism. But in this case, I have to say, maybe, that's my personal opinion, maybe they have sort of underestimated the seriousness of this activity. Because every signal points to that, this points to possible, I mean, conclusion that this is not a simple activity organized by innocent students. There could be some vicious force behind that," said Liao.

Einar Tangen, a current affairs commentator with CGTN, said the violent activists are threatening the very lifeblood of Hong Kong, which depends on trade and tourism in terms of people visiting there. But Hong Kong may lose the background this year if the situation continues and people cannot even get there.

"The rhetoric is amplifying and now they are these demonstrators have moved from the peaceful side to more violence and now they are approaching to be terrorists. These are people who are holding their fellow people hostage, trying to make sure that they feel afraid, make interrupting their ability to get to work, to get to hospitals to travel. And this is not only just them, there are threatening the very lifeblood of Hong Kong, which depends on trade, the financial side," said Tangen.