National security legislation heralds a new era for the SAR

June 30 is destined to be a day for celebration in the future for not only Hong Kong people but the whole Chinese nation — as is July 1.

The enactment of the national security law by the country’s top legislature for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will be written into the annals of history — as a milestone in the implementation of “one country, two systems”, one that heralds a new era for Hong Kong.

The new law will bring an end to the yearlong protest violence and social unrest in Hong Kong by extinguishing political extremism. It will help put the city back on the right track of social and economic development, which is essential to tackling the city’s deep-seated social issues.

The worst form of political extremism is “scorched earth” politics, which has become the biggest threat to the city’s stability and prosperity. The separatists and other political radicals in Hong Kong have resorted to and been indulging in “scorched earth” politics in the pursuit of their political objectives over the past year. They have been under the illusion that they would succeed by also leveraging the support of foreign or external forces who are hostile to Beijing, or who have geopolitical interests to gain by messing up Hong Kong.

The new law has jolted the political zealots out of their illusions, as evidenced by recent reports that some of the masterminds, bankrollers and instigators behind the yearlong anti-government campaign have hauled in their sails after the National People’s Congress announced in late May the move to enact a national security law for Hong Kong.

Whether the political zealots accept it or not, the legislation has brought them back to reality: No sovereign state will sit on its hands and tolerate acts endangering national interests, including territorial integrity and national security. China is no exception.

They have now realized all the maneuvers — including threats, intimidation or “sanctions” — by their foreign patrons against the national security legislation are futile simply because no such attempt is justifiable legally or morally.

Acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign or external forces endangering national security are illegal in China as well as in most parts of the world, including the United States and Europe. It is rather incongruent for foreign governments and politicians to take issue with the new law when most of them have instituted such laws to safeguard their own national security. They have demonstrated not only sheer double standards but contempt for the international principle of noninterference.