Directly-elected lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I, who chairs the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) 1st Standing Committee, said yesterday that her committee is urging the government to clarify the definition and the scope of state secrets, as her committee is reviewing a government-drafted bill defining state secrets and regulating their protection in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
Lei made the remarks during a press briefing after yesterday’s closed-door meeting by the committee, which is currently reviewing the state secret bill that aims to ensure the “adequate and strict” protection of state secrets in the MSAR.
The bill proposes to cover eight areas related to Macau’s socioeconomic development, Lei said, adding that any person or entity having access to state secrets is under the obligation of confidentiality. Violations of state secrets are criminal offences under the National Security Law.
When answering reporters’ questions on whether the scope of the state secrets would be “too wide”, Lei said that the bill is mainly modelled on the state security law enforced in mainland China, such as concerning secrets on the economic and social development of the country.
The bill proposes that state secrets will no longer be secret after a confidentiality period of up to 30 years, Lei said, adding that in the mainland state secrets will be automatically declassified upon the expiry of the designated confidentiality period, but in Macau, the duration would need to be defined by the chief executive.
Lei said that the future state secrecy law would also apply to court trials during which a defendant would have to seek approval from the chief executive or the government to disclose information in his or her defence in court if it is considered to be a state secret.
The judge would have the power to keep the respective trial session closed to members of the public, Lei stressed.
Lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I (right), who chairs the legislature’s 1st Standing Committee, talks to reporters after yesterday’s closed-door meeting reviewing the government-initiated state secret bill, as the committee’s secretary, Becky Song Pek Kei, looks on. – Photo courtesy of TDM
