More Questions on HK$8B for National Security

The budget did not mention HK$8 billion for national security

The controversy over the HK$8 billion (US$1 billion) for national security continued today with no signs of abating since Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po refused to give clear and straight forward answers about the staggering amount of money considering Hong Kong is HK$257.6 billion in deficit in this year's budget.

First of all he didn't even mention it in his budget speech, but it was later discovered to be listed in a separate 1,000-page document that listed estimated revenues and expenditures of various government accounts.

Chan refused to divulge what the money was for

On a radio program, Chan refused to divulge what that money was for, but dismissed a suggestion the expenditure was equivalent to "military spending", reiterating only it was a necessary expense.

"[Some] may say that Hong Kong is very safe and we do not need to spend money on this area, [but] in 2019 we experienced half a year of social unrest. Such circumstances exposed the gaps in national security. This HK$8 billion will be used over a number of years... it is necessary," he said.

With the national security law in place, what was experienced in 2019 will never happen again. So again, what is the HK$8 billion for?

He also insisted the funds for national security spending were already disclosed in government accounts last October, but apparently it did appear in a document called the "Consolidated statement of assets and liabilities as at December 31, 2020" gazetted by the government on February 5.

In addition, the HK$8 billion is not listed under any specific department, and was described as "non-recurrent appropriation to a special fund to meet the expenditure for safeguarding national security" -- the same wording used in the budget document.

The national security office is covered by Beijing

Apparently this practice is similar to other countries, which also regard this kind of expenditure as "confidential".

Even more curious is that none of this money is being used to fund the operations of the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People's Government, which was set up last July in Tai Hang, near Causeway Bay. Their expenses are covered by the central government.

However, Article 19 of the national security laws says the city's financial secretary, on the approval of the chief executive, shall "appropriate from the general revenue a special fund to meet the expenditure for safeguarding national security and approve the establishment of relevant posts, which are not subject to any restrictions in the relevant provisions of the laws in force" in Hong Kong.

So Hongkongers will never know where their hard-earned HK$8 billion will go towards, except for "national security"... a catch-all phrase for "none of your business"...