HONG KONG: China's parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong on Tuesday (Jun 30), setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony's way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago.
Details of the law - which comes in response to last year's often-violent pro-democracy protests in the city and aims to tackle subversion, terrorism, separatism and collusion with foreign forces - are due out later on Tuesday.
Amid fears the legislation will crush the global financial hub's freedoms, and reports that the heaviest penalty under it would be life imprisonment, pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong's Demosisto group said it would dissolve.
"It marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before," Wong said on Twitter.
The legislation pushes Beijing further along a collision course with the United States, Britain and other Western governments, which have said it erodes the high degree of autonomy the city was granted at its Jul 1, 1997, handover.
The United States, already in dispute with China over trade, the South China Sea and the novel coronavirus, began eliminating Hong Kong's special status under US law on Monday, halting defence exports and restricting technology access.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, speaking via video link to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, urged the international community to "respect our country's right to safeguard national security".
She said the law, which is expected to come into force imminently, would not undermine the city's autonomy or its independent judiciary.
Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have repeatedly said the legislation is aimed at a few "troublemakers" and will not affect rights and freedoms, nor investor interests.
The editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a tabloid published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, said on Twitter the heaviest penalty under the law was life imprisonment, without providing details.
Details of the law would be published later on Tuesday, said Henry Tang, a Hong Kong delegate to China's top advisory body, after a meeting at Beijing's main representative office.
The legislation may get an early test with activists and pro-democracy politicians saying they would defy a police ban, amid coronavirus restrictions, on a rally on the anniversary of the Jul 1 handover.
At last year's demonstration, which came amid a series of pro-democracy protests, a crowd stormed and vandalised the city's legislature.
"We will never accept the passing of the law, even though it is so overpowering," said Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai.
It is unclear if attending the unauthorised rally would constitute a national security crime if the law came into force by then.
A majority in Hong Kong opposes the legislation, a poll conducted for Reuters this month showed, but support for the protests has fallen to only a slim majority.
Police dispersed a handful of activists protesting against the law at a shopping mall.
Dozens of supporters of Beijing popped champagne corks and waved Chinese flags in celebration in front of government headquarters.
"I'm very happy," said one elderly man, surnamed Lee.
"This will leave anti-China spies and people who brought chaos to Hong Kong with nowhere to go."
Pro-China supporters celebrate with Hong Kong and Chinese flags after China's parliament passes the national security law for Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, China June 30, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
This month, China's official Xinhua news agency unveiled some of the law's provisions, including that it would supersede existing Hong Kong legislation and that interpretation powers belong to China's parliament top committee.
Beijing is expected to set up a national security office in Hong Kong for the first time and could also exercise jurisdiction on certain cases.
Judges for security cases are expected to be appointed by the city's chief executive. Senior judges now allocate rosters up through Hong Kong's independent judicial system.
It is not known which specific activities are to be made illegal, how precisely they are defined or what punishment they carry.
Britain, the European Union, Japan, Taiwan and others have also criticised the legislation.
China has hit back at the outcry, denouncing "interference" in its internal affairs.
BEIJING – China’s top lawmaking body on Tuesday (June 30) passed a Hong Kong national security law that will ban subversion and secession, a senior adviser to Beijing on Hong Kong said.
“I have been told that the law was passed unanimously, all 162 votes,” Professor Lau Siu-kai told The Straits Times.
That all 162 members of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee voted in favour of the law shows China’s strong will to close the legal loophole in Hong Kong, he said.
Since it was first proposed at the start of China’s annual parliamentary meetings late last month, the law has gone through a truncated legislative process, passing in just over 40 days.
The process has bypassed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, the local legislature, and the law will be inserted into the city’s mini Constitution, the Basic law.
The national security law will be a “new start” for Hong Kong, the nationalistic Global Times tabloid wrote in an editorial, but there will still be struggles.
“Chinese society, including Hong Kong society, must be prepared to support the enforcement of the law in the city after it is passed, to punish a few diehards who have been committed to jeopardising national security, and to fight some tough battles against US interference in Hong Kong, to truly establish a line of defence on national security there,” it wrote.
A new national security agency, reporting directly to Beijing, will be set up under the ambit of the new law, while a national security committee chaired by the Hong Kong Chief Executive will be set up to implement the law.
But the legislation’s passage has been met with strong resistance by Western governments and the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong, who say it represents an end of the One Country, Two Systems principle that has governed the city since its return to China in 1997.
The United States has said it will end Hong Kong’s special trading status, which means the territory will be subjected to the same tariffs as mainland China.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that this will have minimal impact on the city.
According to details of a draft released two weeks ago, the law will ban secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces to harm national security.
Beijing has been infuriated by pro-democracy protests that have rocked the city for nearly a year, insisting it is the work of foreign forces.
Hong Kongers and protest organisers say the protests, which have often resulted in violent street battles between demonstrators and police, is a manifestation of the simmering anger at the government.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong said on Tuesday (Jun 30) he is stepping down as leader of his democracy group Demosisto, just hours after local media reported that Beijing had passed national security legislation for the city.
Wong has said he would be a "prime target" of Beijing's national security law, which critics fear would crush freedoms in the former British colony.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have said the law is necessary to tackle separatism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces following anti-government protests that escalated in June last year.
Wong has rallied support for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement overseas, in particular in the United States, drawing the wrath of Beijing, which says he is a "black hand" of foreign forces.
"If my voice will not be heard soon, I hope that the international community will continue to speak up for Hong Kong and step up concrete efforts to defend our last bit of freedom," Wong said on his Twitter feed.
Demosisto members Nathan Law and Agnes Chow also said they were stepping down from the group.
"The struggle of Hong Kong people will not stop, it will only continue with a more determined attitude," Law said in a Facebook post.
The South China Morning Post newspaper, quoting an unidentified source, said China's official news agency Xinhua would publish details of the law later on Tuesday and Hong Kong officials would gather at the office of Beijing's top representative in the city later for a meeting on the legislation.
The draft law has alarmed some foreign governments and Hong Kong's democracy activists.
They are concerned that Beijing is eroding the high degree of autonomy granted to the former British colony when it was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
China says the national security law will target only a small group of troublemakers and people who abide by the legislation have no reason to worry.
