Outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday called on the incoming administration to enhance national security awareness among the governing team, saying the SAR still faces challenges in implementing the security law.

Speaking at a legal forum on the National Security Law, Lam noted that the implementation of the legislation and the setting up of relevant organisations had enabled the SAR to undergo a transformation from chaos to order.

She added her government had moved to improve the electoral system and to required civil servants to swear allegiance to the SAR, saying the measures had yielded "immediate results".

But she said the task of safeguarding national security is far from complete, and SAR officials have to understand that "circumstances remain severe and complex".

"The external political environment is volatile and external forces trying to contain China will keep emerging. Locally, radical trouble-makers and even underground groups that advocate terrorism are lurking around," she said.

"I call on the next government to further raise, among the governing team, their political and national security awareness, big-picture thinking and dare-to-fight spirit."

The director of the Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong, Zheng Yanxiong, echoed Lam's views, saying the SAR faced many risks in terms of protecting national security.

He said he hoped the SAR authorities would further enhance the legal system to safeguard national security. He said his office would be ready to exercise the central government's jurisdiction when necessary.