HONG KONG - The Civil Service College has launched a series of online learning resources on the theme of "national security" to enhance civil servants' understanding of the important subjects of Hong Kong National Security Law and national security, the government said on Friday, the National Security Education Day.

It is the duty of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Constitution to safeguard national security and the Region shall perform the duty accordingly.

 Patrick Nip, HK Secretary for the Civil Service 

“It is the duty of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Constitution to safeguard national security and the Region shall perform the duty accordingly,” said the city’s Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen in a statement.

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“As civil servants are the backbone of the HKSAR government, it is incumbent upon them to acquire an accurate understanding of the Hong Kong National Security Law, enhance awareness of safeguarding national security and act in accord fully with the HKSAR government in discharging its duty to safeguard national security,” he said.

In order to ensure that new recruits to the civil service will have basic understanding of the Basic Law and the Hong Kong National Security Law, the government is updating the assessment content of the Basic Law Test and will include the Hong Kong National Security Law in the scope of assessment, Nip added.

The theme of the National Security Education Day this year is “Uphold National Security, Safeguard Our Home”.

To encourage civil servants to acquire a more comprehensive understanding of the “holistic view of national security”, the college launched under the "Tsinghua Lecture Series" a new series of pre-recorded lectures focusing on three of the major fields – resource security, biosecurity and outer space security. The lectures, delivered by experts and scholars from Tsinghua University, addressed the significance of national security in these fields to the development of the country.

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In addition, in support of the theme of “uphold national security, safeguard our home", the college also launched a pre-recorded talk on “National Security, the Hong Kong National Security Law and Improving Electoral System”.

The talk was delivered by former secretary for justice and former vice-chairperson of the HKSAR Basic Law Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Elsie Leung Oi-sie. The talk had its focus on the responsibility of the HKSAR to safeguard national security and the key elements of the Hong Kong National Security Law. It also covered topics such as improvements to HKSAR's electoral system and implementation of the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong”.