The government on Saturday held a special seminar after the State Council issued a white paper on the "persistent" fight to safeguard national security in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Delivering speeches at the seminar were Chief Executive John Lee, Liaison Office director Zhou Ji and Office for Safeguarding National Security head Dong Jingwei.

Other senior officials as well as members of the legislative and executive councils were also present.

Lee said the white paper made it clear that the central government bore fundamental responsibility for Hong Kong’s national security and that the SAR had to also actively fulfil its constitutional responsibility to safeguard national security.

The timing of the release was also crucial, he said, noting that the document came a day after Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison over national security charges.

Lee said Hong Kong previously faced political chaos due to its national security being left wide open and that it had to learn a lesson from that and remain vigilant at all times against national security risks.

Speaking after the seminar, Legislative Council president and the city's sole delegate to the National People's Congress Standing Committee Starry Lee said the talks had been insightful and provided a comprehensive review of the SAR's national security efforts.

"The white paper systematically reviews the challenges Hong Kong has faced regarding national security in the past and also reminds us that national security risks still exist; we need to remain vigilant at all times,” she said.

She quoted Tsinghua University professor Wang Zhenmin, one of the speakers at the seminar, as saying that the white paper had been released to dispel any concerns over “misunderstandings or inaccuracies” that the international community had after the National Security Law was implemented in the SAR.

Executive councillor Jeffery Lam said the five-chapter, 17-page document was essential.

“We have seen that ... because Article 23 failed to be legislated in 2003, the opposition joined forces with some foreign powers to take that opportunity to create chaos in Hong Kong", he said.

"For instance, the 2014 Occupy Central and the 2019 anti-extradition bill unrest are all bloody examples.

“These events have also told us very clearly that national security has never been a distant concept; rather, it is closely linked to the daily lives of everyone of us in Hong Kong and the operations of our businesses.”

Lam said the city needed to step up its explanatory work over how implementation of the National Security Law and Article 23 of the Basic Law had made the city more stable, stressing that some reports by foreign media might not have accurately reflected reality in the city.