NEW DELHI, June 2 (Xinhua) -- China's national security legislation for its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will help plug loopholes in the local system, an Indian sinologist has said.

B.R. Deepak, head of Center of Chinese and Southeast Asian Studies at the New Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University, made the remarks in a recent interview with Xinhua when commenting on China's move to establish and improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for Hong Kong.

"It is an attempt to plug any loophole in the system that endangers national security and unity," said the expert.

Chinese lawmakers voted overwhelmingly at the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, last week to approve a decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the HKSAR to safeguard national security.

The HKSAR has the legal responsibility to enact legislation in accordance with Article 23 of the Basic Law of the HKSAR and should complete the legislation to safeguard national security as soon as possible.

Article 23 stipulates that the HKSAR shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the central government. However, such legislation has not been passed due to various reasons.

Deepak said that in the absence of any follow-up to Article 23, China believes that foreign forces go hand in glove with the demonstrators in Hong Kong, and "the NPC deemed it fit to deal with the situation in accordance with China's Constitution."

The professor said China believes that last year's turmoil in Hong Kong challenged the bottom line of "one country, two systems," threatening its national security and sovereignty.

"The scenes of those pitched battles with police, defacing and vandalizing China's national emblem at the Chinese government liaison office are still fresh in people's memory," Deepak said.

That the protesters openly advocated "Hong Kong's independence" is against China's national security and territorial sovereignty, he said, adding that even though Hong Kong enjoys "one country, two systems," it remains an integral part of China.

To those demonstrators, he noted, China signaled from the very beginning that they cannot have "two systems" without "one country."

Therefore, like any other country in the world, no subversive or seditious activity within its borders would be tolerated, he said. Enditem

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