Watershed in Hong Kong's history: China Daily editorial

Wednesday's inauguration of the central government's national security office in Hong Kong marked the completion of the recent moves to establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms in the special administrative region to safeguard national security.

Tasked with analyzing and assessing developments in the SAR in relation to national security, and providing guidance and support to the SAR government in the performance of its duties to safeguard national security, the establishment of the office means the SAR will no longer be the weak link in national security.

The central government has overarching responsibility for national security affairs and the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, as it is officially named, will analyze and assess developments in relation to national security in the SAR, providing opinions and proposals to ensure the SAR's executive authorities, legislature and judiciary can effectively prevent, suppress and impose punishment for any act or activity endangering national security in the SAR as required by the recently enacted national security legislation.

Having failed to convince the world and Hong Kong people with their double standard rhetoric on the introduction of the national security law for Hong Kong, as evidenced by the fact that at least 73 countries have expressed their support for the new law and 2.94 million Hong Kong residents signed a petition supporting the law in an eight-day campaign that ended on May 30, the anti-China external forces have reverted to their old modus operandi — scaremongering.

These China-bashers are now trying to pit Hong Kong people against the central authorities in Beijing with a smear campaign aimed at arousing suspicion about the office and its role.

But their scaremongering tactic is futile, as it has always been. Otherwise, why would some 300,000 Hong Kong people and more than 1 million Taiwan residents and numerous foreigners from around the world have chosen to live in mainland cities?

HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor hailed the opening ceremony of the central government agency as a "historic moment". This was on the mark. The establishment of a comprehensive framework for safeguarding national security in the HKSAR is a watershed in Hong Kong's history of socioeconomic development. It will put an end to the toxic antagonistic politics that has plagued the city for two decades, and help restore reason and rationality in political discourse, which is crucial for Hong Kong to move ahead and tackle its deep-seated problems.