Outgoing HK Security Chief Says There are Still Risks

Lau says Hong Kong still faces security risks

Hong Kong's national security hotline has received over 400,000 reports since it was established in November 2020, according to Edwina Lau Chi-wai, outgoing deputy police commissioner and national security chief.

She said the number of tips from the hotline indicated Hongkongers supported the national security law.

However, Lau warned that despite peace returning to the city after the 2019 protests, there were still risks to security.

Wrong anthem played at hockey game is a crime?

"While it's not as chaotic as the protester violence back in 2019, we feel that there are still some hidden undercurrents," she said, echoing a warning from Xia Baolong, director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.

This is the narrative the government continues to recite in a bid to keep people on edge.

She also claimed "traitors" continued to "collude with foreign forces" in attacking the nation and Hong Kong after leaving the city.

"Some suspects who've fled Hong Kong I'll call them traitors because they are against the country and Hong Kong, called on different foreign governments to sanction judges and prosecutors involved in recent [national security] cases that are being tried in courts. Their actual goal is to pervert the course of justice," Lau said.

The recent high-profile blunders of the wrong national anthem being played at international sporting events have resulted in the protest song, Glory to Hong Kong being played instead of March of the Volunteers, and Lau suggests something nefarious could be going on.

Lau (back far left) is sanctioned like Lam (front)

"Could there be some people deliberately doing this? I think this is also a very iconic example," she said.

Where is the evidence that these actions were deliberate?

Lau reiterated the national security law only targeted "a small minority of people", with the national security unit arresting 250 people since July 2020.

Is that small? The impact the national security law has had on residents has resulted in tens of thousands of them leaving Hong Kong.

Meanwhile the United States has imposed sanctions on Lau, which she described as "extremely unreasonable and despicable". The sanctions were imposed in 2020 for her role in enforcing the national security law, but she insists it has only pushed her to work harder, though her last day is Friday.

Wonder if all her salary is in cash too, like former Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor?