Security law ‘the end of an age’
Protesters are taking to the streets again to denounce Beijing’s imposition of a draconian security law that gives it sweeping powers over Hong Kong.
The legislation, brought in yesterday on the anniversary of Britain’s handover of Hong Kong 23 years ago, delivers on Beijing’s threat to criminalise acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. The full text was not made public before the parliamentary vote.
It targets any act that seeks sanctions against Beijing or causes hatred among Hong Kong residents towards it. ‘‘Major figures’’ who do so, or those deemed responsible for ‘‘severe’’ offences, will be jailed for 10 years to life, and ‘‘active participants’’ for up to 10 years.
C Y Leung, a former chief executive of Hong Kong, announced a bounty of up to HK$1 million to anyone who provides intelligence that leads to the arrest of those in violation of the new law. As a result, many Hong Kong residents were scrambling to remove their Twitter accounts and delete online posts that could be considered offensive under the rules.
Permission for a rally held every year on July 1 was denied by the city authorities, who cited social distancing requirements. Civil Human Rights Front, the rally organiser, said the ban marked ‘‘the end of an age of Hong Kong’’.
The new law was passed unanimously by the standing committee of China’s rubber-stamp national parliament, less than six weeks after it was proposed. President Xi Jinping issued an order ensuring it took immediate effect.
Beijing hopes it will bring an end to pro-democracy protests, describing it as ‘‘a sharp sword hanging high above for the very small minority of people who endanger national security’’. Critics say it effectively ends the ‘‘one country, two systems’’ agreement under which Hong Kong was handed back to China, and which granted it a high degree of autonomy.
Hours before the law came into effect, Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Agnes Chow, three of the best-known activists, announced that the protest group Demosisto was disbanding.
Wong wrote online that Hong Kong was entering a terrifying new era ‘‘with arbitrary prosecutions, black jails, secret trials, forced confessions, media clampdowns and political censorship’’. He added: ‘‘I hope that the international community will continue to speak up for Hong Kong. I will continue to guard my home until they silence me.’’
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, will designate judges to handle national security cases. A Beijing office will be set up in the territory to collect and analyse intelligence. Hong Kong’s legal system is widely seen as independent, whereas that on the mainland is highly politicised, with a near 100 per cent conviction rate.
Dozens of protesters gathered inside a Hong Kong shopping centre to chant pro-democracy slogans in the hours after the law was passed. Police carried out searches of those present but made no arrests.
The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party-run newspaper, urged the ‘‘traitors’’ in Hong Kong to give up or be punished if they continued to resist.
‘‘Do not fantasise that the national security law is something similar to last year’s anti-extradition bill, which can be withdrawn when enough people are mobilised to take to the street,’’ it said. ‘‘The power and the will of the 1.4 billion Chinese people will make sure it’s not just a piece of paper.’’