Anti-sanctions law to be added to Basic Law on Friday

The city’s sole delegate to the country’s top legislature, Tam Yiu-chung, said a resolution on adding the anti-sanctions law to Annex III of the Basic Law is expected to pass on Friday.

He made the comment on Tuesday, the first day of a meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in Beijing.

Tam told reporters that the resolution’s wording is simple, and members won’t go into details as to when Hong Kong must pass local legislation, and how exactly the law should be enforced in the SAR.

When asked whether the law would cause banks and foreign capital to leave Hong Kong, the DAB stalwart said he’s not worried that the legislation would undermine investors’ confidence or the city’s status as an international financial hub.

“I don’t think [people] need to over-worry. If we formulate the counter-sanction mechanism, the SAR government will be very careful in studying how to enforce [the law],” Tam said via a video link with the media.

He said it was reasonable to add the counter-sanction law against the US, saying Washington’s sanctions on Beijing and Hong Kong were unreasonable.