- 23 A B - country, two systems” policy. Giving them effect, BL 1 declares that the HKSAR is an inalienable part of the PRC; and BL 12 stipulates that the A B HKSAR shall be a local administrative region of the PRC, which shall C D E F enjoy a high degree of autonomy and come directly under the Central People’s Government. The NSL is likewise enacted for the same primary purposes 36. of, among others, ensuring the resolute, full and faithful implementation of C D E F the “one country, two systems” policy under which the people of Hong G H Kong administer Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy, safeguarding national security and maintaining prosperity and stability of the HKSAR: G H NSL 1. I J K I NSL 2 refers to BL 1 and BL 12 as the lynchpin for 37. safeguarding national security in the Region thus: “The provisions in [BL 1] and [BL 12] on the legal status of the [HKSAR] are the fundamental provisions in the Basic Law. No institution, organization or individual in the Region shall contravene these provisions in exercising their rights and freedoms.” L M N J K L M N In so prescribing the constitutional order of the HKSAR, BL 1, BL 12 and O P Q R S T NSL 2 underscore the general duty of the Region to safeguard national security: Lai Chee Ying v Secretary for Justice [2023] 3 HKLRD 275, per Poon CJHC at [28]. The NSL adopts a multi-pronged approach to fleshing out that 38. general constitutional duty of the Region to safeguard national security: (1) In relation to the different arms of the government: NSL 3(2) O P Q R S T imposes that primary duty on the Region and requires the U U V V

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