Police quick to use new law
Hong Kong police have made their first arrest under a new national security law imposed by China’s central government, arresting a protester yesterday for carrying a flag calling for Hong Kong’s independence.
The man was arrested after police had issued multiple warnings to the crowd at a protest in the city’s Causeway Bay shopping district that they might be in violation of the law, according to a police statement on Twitter.
The law, imposed by China after last year’s anti-government protests in the semi-autonomous territory, took effect yesterday. It makes secessionist, subversive, or terrorist activities illegal, as well as foreign intervention in the city’s internal affairs. Any person taking part in secessionist activities, such as shouting slogans or holding up banners and flags urging for the city’s independence, is in violation of the law regardless of whether violence is used.
The most serious offenders, such as those deemed to be masterminds behind the crimes, could receive a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. Lesser offenders could receive jail terms of up to three years, short-term detention or restriction.
Hong Kong’s leader strongly endorsed the new law in her speech marking yesterday’s 23rd anniversary of the territory’s handover from colonial ruler Britain. ‘‘This decision was necessary and timely to maintain Hong Kong’s stability,’’ Carrie Lam said following a flag-raising ceremony and China’s national anthem.
A pro-democracy political party, the League of Social Democrats, organised a protest march during the flag-raising ceremony. About a dozen participants chanted slogans echoing demands from protesters last year for political reform and an investigation into accusation of police abuse.
Critics say the law effectively ends the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ framework under which Hong Kong was promised a high degree of autonomy.
Hong Kong’s police force had issued a statement saying they would consider as illegal any flag or banner raised by protesters deemed to be promoting Hong Kong’s separation from China or expressing support for independence for Tibet, Xinjiang, and the self-governing island democracy of Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
Concerns have also been raised over the fate of key opposition figures, some of whom have already been charged for taking part in protests, as well as the disqualification of candidates for the Legislative Council elections scheduled for September.
Schools, social groups, media outlets, websites and others unspecified will be monitored and their national security awareness will be raised, according to the law’s text, while China’s central government will have authority over the activities of foreign non-governmental organisations and media outlets in Hong Kong.
The legislation was mandated under Hong Kong’s local constitution, but an earlier attempt to pass it by the city’s legislative body in 2003 was shelved in the face of massive public opposition.
Having lost patience, Beijing finally decided to circumvent the Hong Kong legislature and have it passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament. President Xi Jinping signed a presidential order putting the law into effect, and it has been added to the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s constitution.
The law’s passage comes after Hong Kong’s legislature in early June approved a contentious bill making it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem.