National People's Congress Standing Committee member Tam Yiu-chung on Tuesday said all Hong Kong people have a duty to remain vigilant against anti-China forces – but stressed that this label doesn’t apply to those who merely hold different views.

Tam was speaking on an RTHK programme a day following an online seminar attended by top officials and politicians, where Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Xia Baolong spoke of the need to stay on the lookout for anti-China forces who seek to destabilise Hong Kong or Macau.

“I want to point out that the ‘anti-China destablising forces’ [label] doesn’t apply in normal circumstances. It's not for people who hold opposing views. They’re not a problem. We want unity with them,” Tam said.

"But if you're anti-China, and may even be backed by American and western forces and you go and wreak havoc, that's not acceptable."

Executive Council convenor Regina Ip agreed with Tam’s views, saying the anti-China forces Xia was referring to are people who actively collude with foreign powers.

“Colluding with foreign forces is a definite no-no because of the current geopolitical situation,” she said. “Some western countries are targeting China. The US is roping in allies to target China. Such action to contain China forces our country to stay vigilant.”

Asked whether Hong Kong needs to speed up legislating its own national security laws under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Tam said while Article 23 legislation is something the new administration must do at some point, it’s very busy getting its agenda off the ground for now.

Tam also said that Xia’s address laying out the significance of President Xi Jinping’s landmark July 1 speech had clearly summarised the development of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy, along with the way forward.

Tam stressed that the fundamental purpose of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ is to safeguard the country's sovereignty, security and development interests, and any challenge to these are not acceptable.