China tightens grip

New national security law plans for Hong Kong draw criticism

CHINA plans to establish a special bureau in Hong Kong to investigate and prosecute crimes considered threatening to national security, according to details of a controversial new national security law Beijing is imposing on the semiautonomous territory.

In addition, bodies in all Hong Kong government departments would be answerable to the central government in Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency said on Saturday.

The announcement increases concerns that China’s communist government will continue to tighten its grip on Hong Kong.

Beijing has said it is determined to press ahead with the national security legislation despite criticism from within Hong Kong and abroad.

The details of the proposed national security law emerged as the body that handles most lawmaking for China’s legislature closed its latest meeting.

The bill was raised for discussion at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress but there was no further word on its fate, Xinhua said.

Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate on the Standing Committee, said the law was reviewed but no vote had been taken, and it wasn’t clear when it would be further vetted. The Standing Committee meets every two months.

The bill has received heavy criticism, including from the US, which said it would revoke some of the preferential conditions extended toward Hong Kong after its transfer from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Britain has said it will offer passports and a path to citizenship to as many as three million Hong Kong residents.

Group of Seven leading economies called on China to reconsider its plans, voicing “grave concern” over the laws it said would breach Beijing’s international commitments and the territory’s constitution.

Beijing has repeatedly denounced the moves as rank interference in its internal affairs.