China passes security law with sweeping powers over Hong Kong
China passed a contentious new law for Hong Kong yesterday that would empower the authorities to crack down on opposition to Beijing, risking deeper rifts with Western governments that have warned about the erosion of freedoms in the territory.
Lawmakers in Beijing voted unanimously to approve the national security law for Hong Kong, according to Lau Siu-kai, a senior Beijing adviser on Hong Kong policy, as well as two Hong Kong newspapers that serve as conduits for official policy from Beijing, Wen Wei Po and Ta Kung Pao.
The swift action, less than two weeks after lawmakers first formally considered it, signalled the urgency that the Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, has given to expanding control in Hong Kong after the territory was convulsed by pro-democracy protests last year.
The law underscores Beijing’s resolve to achieve a political sea change in Hong Kong, a former British colony with its own legal system and civil liberties absent in mainland China.
It could be used to stifle protests like those that last year, which evolved into an increasingly confrontational, and sometimes violent, challenge to Chinese rule.
The Chinese legislature approved the law a day before July 1, the politically charged anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997, which regularly draws prodemocracy protests. On the anniversary last year, a massive peaceful demonstration gave way to violence when a small group of activists broke into the Hong Kong legislature, smashing glass walls and spraypainting slogans on walls.
“Xi Jinping is looking at more comprehensive control over Hong Kong, and the national security law will go a long way to achieving that control,” Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a longtime commentator on Chinese politics and an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in an interview.
“It will be a new ballgame, affecting schools, affecting the media, and many other arenas of Hong Kong life.”
Xi has driven the security law through despite the challenges his government faces with the coronavirus pandemic, a lingering economic downturn and visa bans from the Trump administration aimed at Chinese officials involved in Hong Kong policy.
The security law was approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, an elite arm of China’s party-controlled legislature, in a process that drew criticism for its unusual secrecy. Breaking from normal procedure, the committee did not release a draft of the law for public comment. Hong Kong’s activists, legal scholars and officials were left to debate or defend the bill based on details released by China’s state news media earlier this month.
The law calls for Hong Kong’s government to establish a new agency to oversee enforcement of the new rules. Beijing will create its own separate security arm in Hong Kong, empowered to investigate special cases and collect intelligence.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s top official, has said that the law will target only an “extremely small minority of illegal and criminal acts and activities”, and will make the territory safer for most residents.
But critics say that the new security agencies and politically shaded categories of crime, such as “inciting separatism”, could send a chill across Hong Kong society. Activists are worried the law could target those who peacefully call for true autonomy for the territory.
“Potentially, the security law penetrates a lot of activities that contribute to the vibrancy of Hong Kong’s civil society and the character of this international city and financial centre,” said Cora Chan, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong who has studied China’s drive for security legislation.