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Safeguarding national security in Hong Kong is “an unrelenting fight,” Beijing has said in a high-level policy document, after pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was jailed for 20 years.

According to a white paper published by the State Council on Tuesday, China has the “fundamental responsibility” for national security matters in Hong Kong and the city’s government has delivered “solid results” in applying national security legislation.

The policy document, titled “Hong Kong: Safeguarding China’s National Security Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems,” was issued a day after a Hong Kong court sentenced Lai, the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper and a prominent Beijing critic, to 20 years behind bars for foreign collusion and sedition.

The sentence is the harshest meted out so far under Hong Kong’s national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020 following the 2019 protests and unrest.

Lai’s national security trial has sparked international concern over Beijing’s clampdown on the city’s freedoms. The US, UK, EU, Australia, Japan, Taiwan and international rights groups have criticised the sentencing.

The white paper mentioned Lai’s case as an example of Hong Kong’s “judicial departments adjudicating impartially” in national security cases.

Full text: Hong Kong: Safeguarding China's National Security Under the Framework of One Country, Two Sy? by HKFP

“Anti-China agitators who sought to destabilise Hong Kong have been convicted and put in jail in accordance with the law,” the section in relation to Lai read.

“Hong Kong, enjoying high-standard security, is bound to overcome all risks and challenges on the journey forward, and remain as steady as a rock in a turbulent world,” the paper concluded.

Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday welcomed the white paper, saying in Cantonese that the document serves as the “sternest warning to traitors of the country and Hong Kong.”

Calling Lai a traitor, Lee said his sentencing also sent a “solemn warning against malicious plots of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security.”

Lee said Lai had used his Apple Daily newspaper for many years to ?corrupt the minds? of residents and incite hatred. Lai and his syndicate had committed ?evil deeds beyond measure? and deserved their years-long sentences, Lee added.

Alongside Lai, six former Apple Daily executives were given jail terms of up to 10 years on Monday, while two activists linked to an international lobby group were sentenced to up to seven years and three months in jail.

Hong Kong authorities reject criticism that the prosecution of Lai and former Apple Daily staffers has affected the city?s press freedom.

Beijing last issued a white paper on Hong Kong in December 2021 to defend an electoral overhaul that ensures only ?patriots? can govern the city.

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x Hans Tse is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in local politics, academia, and media transformation. He was previously a social science researcher, with writing published in the Social Movement Studies and Social Transformation of Chinese Societies journals. He holds an M.Phil in communication from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Before joining HKFP, he also worked as a freelance reporter for Initium between 2019 and 2021, where he covered the height - and aftermath - of the 2019 protests, as well as the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.

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