Backing for controversial security law

CHINA’S ceremonial legislature has endorsed a national security law for Hong Kong that has strained relations with the UK and the US. The National People’s Congress approved the bill as it wrapped up an annual session held under anti-coronavirus controls.

The Hong Kong security law will alter the territory’s miniconstitution, or Basic Law, to require its government to enforce measures to be decided later by Chinese leaders. The measure and the way it is being enacted prompted Washington to announce it no longer will treat Hong Kong as autonomous.

Activists in Hong Kong have complained the law will undermine civil liberties and might be used to suppress political activity.

The move in Beijing came as three pro-democracy legislators were ejected from Hong Kong’s legislative chamber, disrupting the second day of debate on a bill that would criminalise insulting or abusing the Chinese national anthem. The legislature’s president,

Andrew Leung, suspended the meeting minutes after it began. Security guards carried Eddie Chu out of the chamber after he held up a sarcastic sign about pro-Beijing legislator Starry Lee.

A second pro-democracy member was ejected for shouting after the meeting resumed, and a third who rushed forward with a large plastic bottle in a cloth bag that spilled its brownish contents on the floor in front of the president’s raised dais.

Chu said later: “We have wanted to use any method to stop this national anthem law getting passed by this legislature, which is basically controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, because the law is just another way of putting pressure on Hong Kong people.”