National Security Education Day, observed each year on April 15, has become far more than a symbolic occasion in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This year’s edition — themed “Proactively Align with the 15th Five-Year Plan, Follow a Holistic Approach to Development and Security” — arrives at a moment when the city must articulate, with precision and conviction, the relationship between openness and safety, between ambition and vigilance. The events leading up to Wednesday’s observance have made one thing abundantly clear: Security is not the enemy of prosperity. It is its prerequisite.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po put it plainly in a Sunday blog post: Security is the foundation of a country’s existence and development, and the bedrock of social stability and people’s well-being. He pointed out that “ensuring both development and security” is enshrined as a key principle in the outline of the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) and echoed in the white paper on safeguarding China’s national security under the “one country, two systems” framework, released in February. For a city that serves as an international financial, trade, shipping, and innovation hub, this dual mandate is not abstract policy language — it is an operational imperative.
Chan’s framing of Hong Kong’s financial system is instructive. The city’s markets are sound and efficient, he noted, supporting rapid development while maintaining close oversight and building strong buffers against volatility. Innovation, he argued, can only foster a more resilient and competitive financial system when grounded in security and risk control. This is not a conservative retreat from ambition; it is a mature recognition that in a volatile international landscape marked by intensified geopolitical rivalry, unchecked openness without safeguards is not courage — it is recklessness.
That maturity is reflected in the broader institutional architecture now taking shape. Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki described Hong Kong’s upcoming first five-year plan as a “macro-level, strategic and forward-looking blueprint” aimed at translating the vast opportunities from national development into tangible benefits for Hong Kong residents. The Legislative Council has established a dedicated subcommittee to work alongside the executive branch of the SAR government on consultation and research spanning finance, trade, innovation, land, housing, and livelihoods. This kind of executive-legislative cooperation represents a groundbreaking step in Hong Kong’s governance, one that channels the energy of the city’s institutions toward a shared developmental vision.
Yet development without security is a house built on sand. Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, speaking ahead of National Security Education Day, made a crucial distinction that too often goes unappreciated by outside observers. Hong Kong does not pursue absolute security — it pursues what Lam called “open-style security”, grounded in the rule of law, the protection of basic human rights and freedoms, and respect for the court’s independent judicial power. He cited the trial of Jimmy Lai Chi-ying as evidence that Hong Kong’s judicial independence remains intact and uninfluenced by outside forces. Lam argued that the city should not let external criticism dictate what it should or should not do.
This principled stance is validated by the facts. Hong Kong consistently ranks among the world’s safest cities. In 2025, it was named the seventh safest place in the world by Numbeo and earned the title of the world’s safest city in Time Out’s annual survey of city dwellers. The Resonance Consultancy’s World’s Best Cities report ranked Hong Kong 19th globally in 2026, highlighting both its security and economic strength. These are assessments by international organizations and travelers who experience the city firsthand. They testify to what the national security legal framework has made possible: A city that has transitioned from chaos to order and entered a new stage of advancing from stability to prosperity.
The Hong Kong Police Force’s Fun Day event on April 12, held at Harcourt Garden in Admiralty, brought this message to life in tangible and engaging ways. The event featured a national security education exhibition zone, interactive games, displays of specialized equipment from the Counter Terrorism Response Unit and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau, and performances. More notably, the police force collaborated with Hong Kong Qianfan Technology to launch the “NSmarties AI Interactive Platform”, designed for primary school students to learn about national security through quiz games and immersive experiences. The platform also generates storybooks and short videos, ensuring that the younger generation absorbs these concepts not through rote memorization but through genuine engagement.
The national security framework has not diminished Hong Kong; it has restored it. And with the first five-year plan now being drafted, the city stands poised to write a new chapter
This focus on youth education is neither incidental nor ornamental. Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Cheuk Wing-hing, addressing the ceremony, warned that while Hong Kong’s overall social order is back on track, complacency is a luxury the city cannot afford. Some people with ulterior motives, he noted, are still waiting for an opportunity to act, trying to fan the flames and stir up trouble. His words echo a broader truth: The stability Hong Kong enjoys today is not automatic, and it is not self-sustaining. It requires cultivation — in schools, in communities, and in the daily consciousness of every resident.
Police Commissioner Chow Yat-ming captured this idea with striking simplicity, comparing national security to air and sunlight — without it, survival is difficult. No one can remain a mere spectator in safeguarding national security, he said. Every resident has a duty to play his or her part. This is not a call for blind obedience. It is a recognition that the collective effort to maintain stability and the rule of law in Hong Kong is the foundation upon which individual freedoms, economic opportunity, and social progress are all built.
As 2027 approaches — marking the 30th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland — the city has an opportunity to demonstrate to the world that security and development are not competing values but complementary ones. The national security framework has not diminished Hong Kong; it has restored it. And with the first five-year plan now being drafted, the city stands poised to write a new chapter — one in which prosperity is not merely hoped for but strategically planned, and in which security is not merely enforced but genuinely understood and embraced by the people it protects.
The author is the convenor at China Retold, a member of the Legislative Council, and a member of the Central Committee of the New People’s Party.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
