Positions
Concern with the legislation has arisen because of the authoritarian regime in the People's Republic of China: the new law invokes concepts of treason against the PRC in certain circumstances. Critics claim that this will erode freedom of speech rights. Suspicions have been exacerbated by the refusal of the government to issue a white paper on the legislation, causing groups such as Amnesty International to declare that it "has grave concerns about the proposals in the government's consultation document and the lack of a draft white paper which means that the public still do not know how the legislation will actually be worded". The government will be required to issue a blue paper containing the draft legislation when it presents the new bill to the Hong Kong Legislative Council ("Legco"), but this would leave no time for the public to voice its concerns, and the government may use its unelected majority in Legco to rush the bill through.
Read more about this topic: Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23
Famous quotes containing the word positions:
“An ... important antidote to American democracy is American gerontocracy. The positions of eminence and authority in Congress are allotted in accordance with length of service, regardless of quality. Superficial observers have long criticized the United States for making a fetish of youth. This is unfair. Uniquely among modern organs of public and private administration, its national legislature rewards senility.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“... liberal intellectuals ... tend to have a classical theory of politics, in which the state has a monopoly of power; hoping that those in positions of authority may prove to be enlightened men, wielding power justly, they are natural, if cautious, allies of the “establishment.””
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)
“Extreme positions are not succeeded by moderate ones, but by contrary extreme positions.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)