Beijing’s power grab
In a move which could have far-reaching consequences for Hong Kong’s future, China unveiled a highly contentious plan to impose a national security law which would effectively bypass the semiautonomous territory’s legislature. The law, submitted at China’s annual National People’s Congress, would allow Beijing to crack down on anything in Hong Kong that it regarded as “treason, secession, sedition or subversion”. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said the law should be brought in without delay, and Hong
Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, said it had her full support.
But the announcement was condemned by countries around the world, including Britain and the US, and triggered fury among pro-democracy activists. Thousands of protesters who took to the streets over the weekend were met with tear gas and water cannon from police; scores were arrested.
What the editorials said
This is a flagrant “power grab”, said The Times. The new law will allow Chinese authorities to “arrest, detain and deport anyone it suspects of terrorism, foreign interference or seditious activities. In other words, anyone it wants”. Having “hacked away” at Hong Kong’s autonomy ever since the handover from British rule in 1997, Beijing has now “taken a bulldozer” to the “one country, two systems” principle which underpins the region’s governance, said The Guardian. Even worse, it means China’s national security bodies (including the secret police) are now free to set up branches there.
The aim of the law is obvious, said the FT: China’s president, Xi Jinping, wants to “snuff out” protests of the kind seen last year, when millions of pro-democracy activists took to the streets in a wave of unrest triggered by China’s growing domination. “Beijing hopes the law will either scare future protesters off, or can be wielded to crush them” – ensuring in the process that Hong Kong can’t be used as a “base for dissent that could spill over into the mainland”.
What the commentators said
“China has just struck a deathblow” to Hong Kong’s autonomy, said Joshua Wong in The Independent. The new law will “kill” future protests, silence dissent and threaten the region’s status as a “safe haven” for human rights organisations. It’s an “outrageous” step, agreed Chris Patten, a former governor of Hong Kong, in the FT – but it hardly comes as a surprise. Since coming to power in 2013, Xi has attacked “every sign of liberal democracy” in China, with scant regard for international law. “Terrified” that September’s elections would lead to a prodemocracy majority in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, Xi has now chosen to turn the screw. But he’d be wise to tread carefully. Destroying the rule of law in Hong Kong risks ruining its status as a financial hub that “mediates about two-thirds” of investment in and out of China.
The crackdown is yet more evidence – should it be needed – that we in the West must “change our approach to China, and fast”, said Nick Timothy in The Daily Telegraph. The Chinese Communist Party has long behaved like “an authoritarian bully” at home; these days, it’s a “menace” abroad too. And that should make the West wary. China may well overtake the US as the world’s largest economy within ten years, and Beijing is reportedly planning to increase its military budget by 6.6% this year alone. Yet Britain seems wilfully blind to Beijing’s threat, said Charles Moore in the same paper. The Government ignored allies’ pleas to abandon the 5G deal with Huawei earlier this year, and appears too frightened to challenge China on its cover-up of coronavirus. That’s surely no coincidence, said Patrick Wintour in The Guardian. After all, the UK is now the “number one European destination for Chinese foreign investment” and China is also the UK’s third largest market. In a post-Brexit world, the harsh reality is that Britain may find it “has more at stake than the civil rights of its former colony”.
What next?
The law could be signed off by China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, as early as June and could be in force by the end of the month.
If enacted, it will mark the first time mainland Chinese law, carrying criminal penalties, has entered into Hong Kong’s legal code.
The US has threatened sanctions on China and Hong Kong if the law is passed. Pro-democracy activists are expected to hold further protests in the coming days and weeks, though Beijing hopes that fears over coronavirus will limit participation.