Gov’t urges public to read national security materials as legislators call for action

As part of the National Reading Week campaign, authorities have called on the public to read national security-related materials, while several legislators used a Legislative Assembly session Tuesday to urge society to unite and take concrete actions to safeguard national security.

In response to the nation’s first “National Reading Week” – held from April 20 to 26, with the fourth week of April designated annually to promote reading – the Macau government issued a statement yesterday saying it would fully leverage its leading role to organize a series of activities in collaboration with various departments.

The activities will focus on promoting authoritative publications, including the “Outline for Studying the Overall National Security Outlook” and the white paper “China’s National Security in the New Era,” with all sectors of society invited to participate.

The statement further noted that by reading these works, civil servants and the general public will be able to more accurately understand the core essence of the Comprehensive National Security Outlook, thereby helping to enhance awareness of risk prevention.

Taking advantage of the ongoing “National Security Education Exhibition,” legislators Angel Leung and Ma Chi Seng jointly called for unity and proactive action in the face of complex domestic and international circumstances, putting forward three recommendations.

First, they urged continued improvement of the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security, noting that Macau has already taken the lead in completing local legislation for the “Law on Safeguarding National Security,” with the law establishing the National Security Committee having been passed unanimously in March of this year.

Second, they called for innovative educational formats to extend national security education to schools, communities, and all sectors of society, integrating it into curricula and vocational training.

Third, they stressed the need to actively align with the nation’s “15th Five-Year Plan,” accelerate the development of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, and promote appropriate economic diversification by leveraging Macau’s status as the “City of Performing Arts” and the “City of Sports.”

The legislators emphasized that national security “is an ongoing process, never a finished one,” and that everyone is both a participant and a guardian – “there are no bystanders, and certainly no outsiders.” Moving forward, they said, high-level security will safeguard high-quality development and consolidate the successful practice of ‘One country, two systems.’