WORLD China flexes muscle

National security legislation to tighten noose on Hong Kong

CHINA’S legislature will look to enact national security legislation in Hong Kong that could limit opposition activity in the semi-autonomous territory.

The announcement drew sharp criticism from the US, which has threatened to withdraw preferential trade status for Hong Kong.

The National People’s Congress, which started a oneweek annual session yesterday, will deliberate a Bill on “establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security”, spokesman Zhang Yesui said.

The move has long been considered and was hastened by the months of antigovernment protests last year.

Hong Kong’s Government is bound by Article 23 of the Basic Law, its constitution, to enact laws to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition or subversion against China. It proposed legislation to do so in 2003, but withdrew it after hundreds of thousands of people came out to protest. Beijing has increasingly pushed for measures such as punishment for disrespecting the Chinese national flag and anthem and increased patriotic-themed education in schools.

In Washington, where President Donald Trump and his top national security officials have been increasingly critical of China for both its response to the coronavirus pandemic and actions in Hong Kong, the State Department said such a move would “undermine the PRC’s commitments and obligations in the Sino-British Joint Declaration”.

“Any effort to impose national security legislation that does not reflect the will of the people of Hong Kong would be highly destabilising, and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community,” spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.