Hong Kong's police commissioner Joe Chow Yat-ming has said national security remains a priority despite the city's stabilising social situation, with plans to ramp up intelligence gathering and education amid lingering threats.
At the annual press conference on law and order held on Wednesday, Hong Kong's Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming stated that national security cannot be relaxed despite the city's overall stabilising social situation. He cited soft resistance, foreign forces, the 'infiltration' of absconders, and domestic terrorism as lingering 'undercurrents' of threats.
Chow said the force would continue to ramp up intelligence gathering and enhance national security education among officers and the public, especially young people. 'National security is a concept that requires everyone's participation. That's why we need to put more effort into education and promotion for the idea of everybody being responsible for national security to take root,' he said.
'We could see the overall situation stabilising, but we always say that national security cannot be relaxed. There are still undercurrents out there,' Chow added.
He also noted that the city's national security hotline had received more than a million tip-offs, averaging 590 messages per day, with 10 per cent considered worth pursuing.
