'No logic' behind threat of sanctions over HK national security law

The sanctions other countries have threatened to impose on China for the implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong stem from the "logic of bandits", Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, said.

"What we have formulated is a law for safeguarding national security in a special administrative region of China. This is purely China's domestic affair," Zhang told a news conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

"There is no logic supporting those threats of sanctions. We didn't provoke anyone."

The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, unanimously passed a national security law for Hong Kong on Tuesday, prohibiting acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign or external forces that endanger national security.

The Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was added to Annex III of Hong Kong's Basic Law and took effect later on Tuesday.

The law is a "perfect combination" of adhering to the "one country" prerequisite and respecting the differences between the "two systems", Zhang said.

It will contribute to the stable and long-term implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle, he said.

"No one understands better than us the true essence of the 'one country, two systems' principle. No one cares more than us about it. We are in the best position to define and interpret the principle," Zhang said.