Xia to attend opening ceremony of 2024 National Security Education Day

Source: China Daily Asia

HONG KONG - Xia Baolong, the nation's top official on Hong Kong and Macao affairs, will attend on Monday the opening ceremony of the National Security Education Day via video link, said the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The committee said in a statement that Xia, Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, will officiate at the ceremony and deliver a keynote speech.

Chairman of the National Security Committee and Chief Executive of the HKSAR John Lee Ka-chiu expressed a warm welcome to Xia on his scheduled attendance via video link at the opening ceremony with all the leading officials of his office

The ceremony will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on Monday morning, it added.

Chairman of the National Security Committee and Chief Executive of the HKSAR John Lee Ka-chiu expressed a warm welcome to Xia on his scheduled attendance via video link at the opening ceremony with all the leading officials of his office.

"The National Security Education Day of this year is particularly meaningful for Hong Kong. This year marks the 10th anniversary of a holistic approach to national security put forward by President Xi Jinping," Lee was quoted as saying in the statement.

He said it is also the first National Security Education Day after the HKSAR "accomplished its mission under Article 23 of the Basic Law, and the first National Security Education Day after the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance took effect."

"The prevailing geopolitics has become increasingly complex, and national security risks and threats remain imminent," Lee said.

"The means taken to endanger national security can come in many different forms and persist, and the threat can emerge all of a sudden. The public should remain vigilant," he added.

Lee said the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance requires the HKSAR to promote national security education and to raise the awareness of abiding by the law through public communication, guidance, supervision and regulation.

"The activities of the National Security Education Day organized by the National Security Committee help raise the awareness and the sense of responsibility for safeguarding national security among Hong Kong citizens, reminding them of staying alert to national security risks," he added.