Lee, who helped draft the mini constitution in the late 1980s, said “the article is being used in a very strange way indeed so that Hong Kong can surrender certain areas in Hong Kong in which the laws of Hong Kong will not be applied. But all the national laws of [mainland China] will then be applied to that particular area”.
“So, in other words, all Hong Kong citizens in that particular area will lose the protection of the Basic Law. So all their freedoms are no longer guaranteed under the Basic Law, but subject to all the laws of China”, Lee said.
“In future, if we have another Occupy Central say in two years’ time, what is there to stop the central government from asking the Hong Kong government to rent that particular area which is under occupation by the citizens of Hong Kong, say for one week”, he asked.
“During that week, all the laws of China will be applied to that particular area and all the people of Hong Kong protesting there will be subject to prosecution under Chinese national laws. We know that some of those laws, the maximum penalty is the death penalty", Lee warned.