Macau Sets Up Committee to Enforce 'National Security' Laws

Authorities in Macau say the city will set up a committee to monitor “threats to national security” in the city, a former Portuguese enclave that reverted to Chinese rule in 1999.

The function of the committee is to provide co-ordination for the government in protecting national sovereignty, security and development, the Macau Special Administrative Region government said in a statement.

Meeting twice a year, the committee will also conduct studies and make policy suggestions, it said.

It will be chaired by chief executive Fernando Chui, but the heads of police, the judiciary, legal affairs bureau and security will also sit on it.

An “affiliated office” will be run by the head of security and the city’s judicial police, which carrying out investigations and detective work in its civil law system.

The move comes after ruling Chinese Communist Party officials have repeatedly called on Hong Kong to enact national security legislation that would include a ban on “seditious” or “separatist” speech.

A Macau government spokesman appeared to refer to such concerns, which have led to a proposed ban on the separatist Hong Kong National Party (HKNP) and the debarring of election candidates by government officials in the city.

“Many cases … have happened in other places, proving that it is important to be alert to dangers even in times of calm,” a government spokesman said.

The new committee and the “affiliated office” will be up and running by the end of September, the government said.

Macau enacted a national security law in 2009, in accordance with Article 23 of its Basic Law.

Full story: rfa.org

Reported by Gao Feng for RFA’s Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.