POLICE CHIEFS IN HONG KONG BACK NEW CHINESE NATIONAL SECURITY STATUTE
▶ Demonstrators take to streets to oppose Beijing legislation as US raises possibility of sanctions if new law passes
Hong Kong’s chief security official yesterday welcomed China’s plans to impose a national security law on the financial hub and said it was needed to defeat terrorism and calls for independence.
Police officers fired tear gas and water cannon at thousands of pro-democracy protesters who gathered on Sunday against the contentious law, in the most intense clashes for months.
“Terrorism is growing in the city, and activities that harm national security, such as the ‘Hong Kong independence’ [movement], become more rampant,” Secretary for Security John Lee said.
The statement was part of a flurry of co-ordinated messages from the city’s security services embracing the law, which will be written in Beijing and will not have to pass through semi-autonomous Hong Kong’s legislature for debate and approval.
Police chief Chris Tang cited 14 recent cases where explosives were seized and said the proposed law would “help combat the force of Hong Kong independence and restore social order”.
As the demonstrators and police faced off in the semi-autonomous territory, in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the proposed law had to be imposed “without the slightest delay”.
The planned legislation – expected to ban treason, subversion and sedition – was written after Hong Kong was shaken last year by months of large, often violent protests, and repeated warnings from Beijing that it would not tolerate dissent.
Campaigners criticised the proposal.
“People may be criminalised only for words they say or publish opposing the government,” 25-year-old protester Vincent said.
“I think Hong Kongers are very frustrated because we didn’t expect this to come so fast and so rough.
“But we won’t be as naive as to believe that Beijing will simply sit back and do nothing.
“Things will only get worse here.” Of particular concern to demonstrators was a provision to allow Chinese security agents to operate in Hong Kong, with fears it could lead to a purge of dissidents.
As the number of protesters increased in Hong Kong on Sunday, police fired tear gas and pepper spray to try to disperse the crowd, and later sent water cannon and armoured vehicles to quell pockets of protesters.
The comments from Hong Kong’s security chief came as a video of protesters beating a lawyer was seized on by China’s state media.
Shot during Sunday’s rally, the video showed a man with blood on his face scrambling to escape half a dozen protesters who were kicking and striking him with umbrellas. At least 180 people were arrested, police said, the majority in the Causeway Bay and Wan Chai districts of the city.
Other protesters were detained at a smaller demonstration in Tsim Sha Tsui, southern Kowloon.
The Hong Kong government condemned the “extremely violent and illegal acts” of the protesters and said their behaviour reinforced “the need and urgency of the legislation on national security”.
It also accused protesters of injuring at least four police officers.
The Hong Kong pro-democracy movement had fizzled at the beginning of 2020 as arrests mounted and, later, as large gatherings were banned as an anti-coronavirus measure.
More than 8,300 people have been arrested since the protests erupted last year.
About 200 were arrested during small rallies at malls on Mother’s Day this month.
“I’m very scared, but I still have to come out,” said protester Christy Chan, 23.
“Aside from being peaceful, rational and non-violent, I don’t see many ways to send out our messages.”
China’s legislature is expected to approve the draft resolution on Thursday, before the details are fleshed out in meeting at a later date.
Beijing said yesterday that it will take countermeasures if the United States continued to undermine its interests regarding Hong Kong, after the latest comments from Washington about possible sanctions over the new national security legislation for the city.
President Donald Trump condemned the proposed law last week and threatened to respond “very strongly” if Beijing pursued it.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the US was trying to harm China’s national security.
Mr Zhao said that Beijing had lodged stern objections with Washington over National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien’s comments that the security law for Hong Kong could lead to future US sanctions.