National Security Will Install CCTV in HK for fear of People’s Soft Confrontation

Experts are concerned about HK’s plans for CCTV surveillance, saying citywide coverage is another step towards creeping “mainlandization” and will be used to clamp down on what authorities call “soft resistance.”
Kan Kai-yan, Deputy Commissioner of the Hong Kong Police Force responsible for national security, said in an interview with a TV program on July 7 that the installation of closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) is “good for national security and the overall social well-being.”
The bureau will study further how CCTVs could be used to collect intelligence, adding that national security risks still exist in Hong Kong. Mr. Kan claimed there are still some people who persist in engaging in various forms of “soft resistance,” such as “playing edge balls” (doing something in a quasi-legal way).
He also cited the “Sheep Village” fiction books, the sale of seditious materials in the “yellow market,” and the suggestion to ignore organ donation appeals as examples of “soft resistance.”
“Without the CCTVs, it already committed serious violations of human rights. With its introduction, it will be greatly reinforced,” he said.
Mr. Chung describes the local administration as “using fear as a means to govern Hong Kong,” turning it into a replica of the situation on the mainland. A citywide coverage of cameras is another step toward further “mainlandization.”
Chung believes that the Hong Kong government’s move constitutes an invasion of privacy.
Regarding the installation of CCTVs, Mr. Fok said that the Hong Kong administration is imitating mainland China by installing surveillance cameras everywhere. He said that even after the departure of lots of pro-democrat activists and “yellow folks,” as well as the forced passage of Article 23 of the Basic Law, the government still insisted on claims that Hong Kong is no safer from covert national security risks.
With increased actions on arrests and prevention still in place, topped up with widespread CCTV installations, it means that “hidden resistance is also not allowed” in Hong Kong.
In February, Police Commissioner Raymond Siu Chak-yee said that 2,000 CCTVs were not enough and that more needed to be installed in the future. He claimed at the time that all these CCTVs were used for crime prevention, which included “public order” and “national security” cases.
In the same month, the Security Bureau and the Police Force submitted a document to the Legislative Council on “Continuous Expansion of Digital Policing,” stating that 15 sets of cameras will be installed in Mong Kok for technical trials in March. After the operation is proven, the remaining cameras will be officially installed in the middle of 2024.
Once any issues are classified under “national security,” and with the lack of a mechanism in place to monitor, it will become “a shield from supervision,” creating a chilling effect on the public and causing great human rights violations.
In a newspaper interview in June, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung revealed that 2,000 CCTV cameras would be installed in Hong Kong in 2024/25 and threatened to install 2,000 of them per year as a target in the future. At that time, Mr. Tang said that priority would be given to high-risk or crime-prone areas to evaluate the prevalent technological development and project progress and implement the relevant plans in phases. If necessary and resources permitting, “we will install more in the future.”