'HK has duty to safeguard national security'

Wang Zhenmin, director of Center for Hong Kong and Macao Research and head of National Governance Institute, Tsinghua University, said on the issues relating to national security, the nation should adopt a one-for-all principle or system, just like the situations in the US and the UK.

"Though we are entitled to apply that principle in the case of Hong Kong by simply applying the national security law adopted on the mainland, we chose not to. Tailoring a national security law for Hong Kong is the most moderate and fundamental way to protect national security in Hong Kong," the law professor said.

The proposed national security law is not to revise the Basic Law, but to address the issues the latter has yet to solve or provide an explicit provision about. The Basic Law will remain unchanged, Wang said.

Over the last two decades, tons of lies were spread about the "one country, two systems" policy, but Hong Kong still remains one of the cities with highest level of autonomy and freedom, putting to rest the rumors and lies. However, the detrimental impact falls on the youth, who have suffered and lost a lot, he added, referring to the fact that students made up about 40 percent of the 9,000 arrested during the prolonged street violence started since June 2019.

About one hundred people attended the one-day seminar, marking the 30th anniversary of the promulgation of the Basic Law.