Hong Kong

Takeover complete: Hong Kong’s legislature passed a Beijingbacked national security bill this week that could crush what civil liberties remain in the formerly autonomous city. Article 23 is the local version of the draconian law that Beijing imposed in 2020. It imposes harsh punishments for treason, sabotage, foreign interference, and espionage, and defines those crimes vaguely enough to sweepingly apply them to eliminate political threats. The definition of state secrets is now so broad, encompassing any information about Hong Kong’s or China’s economy and technology, that many investors, business executives, and finance sector workers fear their work could be labeled criminal. Authorities’ first attempt at such a bill in 2003 prompted massive protests, but since then Beijing has slowly chipped away at the freedom to assemble and packed the legislature with Beijing loyalists.