Senior civil servants of the Hong Kong government have taken an oath to uphold the de facto constitution of the city and pledge allegiance to the Special Administrative Region following the imposition of the national security law in late June.

Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Department and directorate civil servants at the rank of D6 or above took the oath, according to a press release.

The oath-taking ceremony, which was held in accordance with relevant provision under the national security law, was witnessed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung and Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip also attended the ceremony.

The oath-taking can serve to strengthen civil servants’ understanding of their responsibilities and the requirements that the country and society impose upon them, and it can further protect, consolidate and promote the core values that they must follow in order to ensure the effective governance of Hong Kong government, Lam said.

Civil servants who took the oath should act as role models for others, and they should support, promote and believe in the Basic Law, Lam said.

The standing arrangement was the same as another oath taking ceremony on Wednesday, in which officials took the oath facing the Chinese flag, the Hong Kong flag as well as Lam.

After the Wednesday ceremony, a column in the pro-Beijing newspaper Sing Tao Daily cited a source familiar with mainland protocols as saying that the standing arrangement was wrong.

When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang witnessed oath-taking by officials, they would face the national flag and the national emblem, and the arrangement in Hong Kong may mislead people to think that officials were pledging loyalty to Lam instead.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play