The law will expand on legislation imposed by China in June 2020 to silence dissent, adding in crimes such as insurrection and external interference.
Critics of the existing security law have said it has affected Hong Kong's status as an international hub, and culled freedoms the city had long enjoyed.
The new law, which the Hong Kong government said it would open up to public consultation, will bolster the authorities' ability to crack down on perceived threats.
"While the society as a whole looks calm and very safe, we still have to watch out for potential sabotage and undercurrents that try to create troubles," Lee told a press conference.
He also warned about the proliferation of "'independent Hong Kong' ideas".
"The threats to national security are real... we don't want to go through that painful experience again," he said, adding that "some foreign agents may still be active in Hong Kong".
Since Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the city has been under a "one country, two systems" regime, in which the legal and court structures are separate from the mainland.
Under its mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, Hong Kong is required to enact a law combating seven security-related crimes, including treason and espionage.
- Waves of protest -
The Hong Kong government's first attempt in 2003 to introduce its own national security law was shelved after half a million people took to the streets in protest.
The semi-autonomous territory has since seen several other waves of dissent, including in 2019 when hundreds of thousands of people participated in sometimes violent protests, calling for greater freedoms.
In response, Beijing imposed in 2020 a national security law to punish four major crimes -- secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces -- with sentences ranging up to life in prison.
Since then, 290 people have been arrested in Hong Kong on national security grounds, including dozens of prominent elected politicians, democracy activists, rights lawyers, unionists and journalists.
More than 30 of them have been convicted, while dozens have been held in pre-trial detention for more than two years.
Officials on Tuesday said the city's own law would also punish a raft of new crimes: treason, insurrection, espionage, destructive activities endangering national security, and external interference.
Lee said authorities would engage with local and foreign groups in a consultation process until the end of February.
- Extradition issue -
The rapid clampdown on freedoms in Hong Kong has quietened the city's once-vibrant civil society space, with news outlets and radio programmes shuttered, and some foreign companies reconsidering their presence in the territory.
Amnesty International's China director Sarah Brooks said the new law was intended to "double down on repression".
"This is potentially the most dangerous moment for human rights in Hong Kong since the introduction of the National Security Law in 2020," she said.
But Lee downplayed the impact of Beijing's 2020 law, pointing to an increase in the number of foreign and mainland companies choosing to open in Hong Kong.
The sooner Hong Kong enacts the new law "we can focus comprehensively on economic development," Lee said.
He added that the law would not require those arrested in Hong Kong to be sent to mainland China -- a key issue for Hong Kongers as it was an extradition bill proposed in 2019 that sparked that year's massive protests.
John Burns, a political science professor of the University of Hong Kong, said that businesses prefer stability to the disruption seen during the 2019 protests.
But he warned that both foreign businesses and NGOs might be spooked by the new law's broad definitions of state secrets and external interference.
"The state secrets aspects of the law on the mainland have ensnared foreign businessmen there. Businesses in Hong Kong may be worried about this," Burns told AFP.
"NGOs may be more cautious about fundraising under the new local security regime."
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