MACAU PASSES ARTICLE 23 LEGISLATION WITHOUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 000354

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM; ALSO FOR DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM MC
SUBJECT: MACAU PASSES ARTICLE 23 LEGISLATION WITHOUT
SERIOUS OPPOSITION

REF: (A) HONG KONG 335 (B) HONG KONG 232 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Consul General Joe Donovan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary and Comment: The Macau Legislative Assembly
(LA) passed Macau's Article 23 Bill into law February 25 by a
24-2 vote, with one abstention; the law is expected to take
effect March 3. The opposition, led by the proto-democratic
New Macau Association (NMA),was able to muster only thirteen
participants to a candlelight vigil held near the LA meant to
motivate public vigilance and call on the government to
balance protecting national security with safeguarding
fundamental freedoms. NMA has focused much of its energy
recently on criticizing increasingly frequent incidents of
Hong Kong politicians, activists, and even accredited media
being denied entry into Macau, which observers have argued
suggests the Macau government is using a blacklist against
perceived critics. Meanwhile, despite fears that Macau's
action would push Hong Kong to revisit Article 23, a senior
Hong Kong government official told the Consul General as
recently as February 20 that the Hong Kong government had no
plans to re-open the issue in the near future. With the
overwhelming majority of even Macau's few directly-elected
legislators squarely in the government camp, Macau's passing
an Article 23 law was a done deal from the start. End
summary and comment.

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Final Cries of Indignation
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2. (C) The proto-democratic NMA, led by legislators Au
Kam-san and Antonio Ng Kuok-cheong, invited the people of
Macau to join a "candlelight sit-in" outside the Legislative
Assembly February 24. Perhaps bowing to the inevitable, NMA
chose to forgo any attempt to oppose or stall the bill, and
merely called for citizens to be vigilant about their rights
and for the government to "achieve a balance between
protecting national security and safeguarding human rights."
NMA also warned the government and law enforcement "not to
abuse police powers in order to interfere in or suppress
dissidents or dissent activities or create terror (kongbu)."
Media reported only thirteen people (and thirty police)
appeared at the vigil, which contrasted with the hundred or
so who turned up on the 25th to support the passage of the
bill. Media covered the events, and has given respectable
coverage to the NMA's failed attempts to pass amendments to
the bill (ref B).


3. (C) The only other voices raised in opposition were
Amnesty International and the Hong Kong Journalists'
Association (HKJA). Amnesty somewhat vaguely called for work
on the bill to be halted pending revision of "the bill's
potential threats to human rights." HKJA mentioned
specifically the bill's lack of a public interest defense for
journalists and its vague language regarding "preparatory
acts," and generally found the bill to be at odds with the
Johannesburg Principles on national security legislation.
Both Amnesty and HKJA feared the bill would have a
"demonstration effect" on Hong Kong, leading to a renewed
push to pass Article 23 legislation there.

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The Inevitable End
--------------


4. (C) The Legislative Assembly (LA) held its final,
clause-by-clause vote on the "Law on Safeguarding National
Security" on February 25. As expected, the bill passed
easily, with a solid block of 24 votes for each of the
clauses. (Note: 27 of Macau's 29 legislators voted on the
bill; the LA President by tradition does not vote and one
legislator was absent. End note.) Proto-democratic New
Macau Association (NMA) legislators Antonio Ng and Au Kam-san
voted against provisions regarding "preparatory acts", the
vague language surrounding "prying into" classified matters,
and some of the other areas their failed amendments (ref B)
had meant to address. Au's concluding words on the law were
that, while it should not immediately cause a clampdown on
the political environment, its grey areas required vigilance
from the public and restraint on the part of government and
law enforcement. Democratic-leaning "New Hope" legislator
Jose Pereira Coutinho did not vote against any part of the
law, but abstained on a handful of clauses.


5. (C) The Macau government, in a statement issued that
night, praised this expression of the Macau people's "love
China, love Macau spirit", pledged to faithfully implement
the law and, in language which appeared lifted from NMA,
promised "to achieve a balance in protecting national

HONG KONG 00000354 002 OF 002


security and safeguarding fundamental rights and freedoms."
Media expect the law to be gazetted March 2, which would put
it in force March 3.

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Illuminating the Black List
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6. (C) In recent days, the NMA has focused more of its
attention on what appears to be tighter control of Macau's
border, with security officials citing (but not explaining)
Macau's internal security law as grounds to turn away outside
activists and even media. Ref B and previous report the
growing numbers of Hong Kong activists and pan-democratic
legislators denied entry to Macau, even when traveling for
leisure. What has caught the attention of even the Hong Kong
government, however, was the decision to block a South China
Morning Post (SCMP) photojournalist from entering Macau,
despite the Macau government's accrediting him to cover the
Ao Man-long corruption trial. The SCMP and local media
groups have made strident protests, and even Chief Secretary
for Administration Henry Tang raised the matter with Macau
Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam on the margins
of a Pearl River Delta cooperation meeting February 19.
While Tang and Hong Kong Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee
have expressed varying levels of unease at the bans, the Hong
Kong government has held to the line that each jurisdiction
has its own immigration procedures, a stance criticized on
the editorial page of respected centrist daily Ming Pao. The
same photojournalist was turned away a second time on
February 25, when he went to Macau to cover passage of
Article 23.


7. (C) For its part, NMA issued a statement condemning the
moves as akin to the imposition of an "iron curtain." NMA
argues the internal security law is meant to prevent the
entry into Macau of those known or believed to be intent on
committing violent acts threatening the well-being and/or
social order of Macau, such as terrorists or those connected
to organized crime. NMA criticized what it described at the
abuse of this law to prevent those traveling to Macau to take
part in academic exchanges and peaceful political events,
warning that these actions cast a pall on an economy
dependent on tourism.

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Hong Kong: No Rush to Resume
--------------


8. (C) Throughout Macau's consideration of Article 23
legislation, a primary concern expressed by Hong Kong
democrats and activists has been the possibility that Macau's
passage of a national security law would lead to the central
government's insisting Hong Kong do the same. Hong Kong
debated Article 23 legislation in 2003, but massive public
opposition and a lack of support within Hong Kong's
Legislative Council led to the bill's ignominious withdrawal
and the resignations of two cabinet officials, followed by
the early departure of then-Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.
Hong Kong government officials, echoed by the Central
Government Liaison Office, have said on several occasions
that Hong Kong's focus right now is on the economy and there
are no plans to re-introduce an Article 23 bill at this time.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen
Lam reiterated this view to the Consul General February 20
(ref A). A government spokesman said much the same thing to
the press yesterday following passage of Macau's law.


9. (C) Local observers are generally in agreement that it
would be a mistake for Hong Kong to take on Article 23
anytime soon. Where they split is on whether Hong Kong will
have a choice. One scenario holds that the bill will be
brought up toward the end of Chief Executive Donald Tsang's
current term, on the grounds that he has no further need of
political capital. A counter-argument to this view is the
expected boost that thus would be given to the pan-democrats
in the 2012 Legislative Council Elections. The second theory
holds that the next Chief Executive will be told to get it
out of the way early in his or her term.
DONOVAN