‘Crushing’ security law cements Beijing’s hold
Hong Kong lawmakers have fast-tracked and passed a new security law, expanding on the already vague, draconian and wide-ranging penalties that have silenced almost all forms of public dissent and transformed institutions in the Asian financial hub.
The city’s legislature, stacked with pro-Beijing lawmakers, passed a sweeping package of laws targeting treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, sedition and foreign interference, with sentences of up to life imprisonment. The legislation, linked to Article 23 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, is meant to target “domestic” threats to security.
Article 23 legislation was first proposed and withdrawn after mass protests more than 20 years ago. It took less than two months to be approved this time, with no opposition in Hong Kong’s legislature. Lawmakers debating the legislation overwhelmingly supported its passage, describing it as a historic “milestone” and a “responsibility”.
Speaking to lawmakers after the vote, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said: “This is a historic moment for Hong Kong. This is our moment to be proud.
“We can effectively guard against ‘colour revolution’ and also those advocating Hong Kong independence,” Lee said, referring to a wave of popular revolts in Eastern Europe in the 2000s and then Hong Kong’s own demonstrations in 2019, which Chinese authorities all blame on Western forces.
Both the laws themselves and the way in which they were passed demonstrate how Hong Kong is being further remade in mainland China’s image, as Chinese President Xi Jinping has made national security the government’s priority.
The legislation also risks further eroding Hong Kong’s status as a financial centre, with businesses particularly worried about vague definitions of state secrets.
Hong Kong had already been transformed in recent years by a national security law, imposed by Beijing in 2020 in the wake of months of mass demonstrations in 2019 against China’s tightening control over the city.
That law led to the transformation of Hong Kong via the shuttering of civil society groups and news outlets, the arrest of more than 200 people – many of them jailed – and an exodus of Hong Kongers. All who have been charged under the law have been convicted.
According to the chief executive, the new Article 23 law is meant to complement the existing national security apparatus, and will be enacted on Saturday.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed over to Chinese control in 1997 under a framework known as “one country, two systems” that granted it some autonomy, including a thriving civil society, an independent media, and a business environment free from government interference.
The Article 23 security law has loomed over the city’s 7.4 million residents for years. Under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which has governed its relationship with Beijing since 1997, the city is required to enact national security legislation.
A first attempt to introduce the law in 2003 prompted half a million people to protest in the streets, forcing authorities to withdraw the legislation.
This time, the legislation was processed “at full speed”, according to Lee. With dissent muted under the Beijing-drafted 2020 national security law, it met little resistance.
The new legislation sets out penalties for treason and insurrection of up to life imprisonment. The colonial-era crime of sedition, which free speech advocates hoped would be abolished once the British left, has instead been strengthened, with longer jail terms and a definition that includes incitement to hatred against the Chinese Communist Party leadership in Beijing.
Although the law introduces a public interest defence, what constitutes one has a broad and vague interpretation, which critics say will have a chilling effect on the work of journalists and non-governmental organisations.
Business and legal groups say the law, in its vagueness, will detract from the city’s appeal as a financial hub safe for investment.
The Law Society of Hong Kong said in its comments on the draft legislation that the commercial sector “requires certainty in the business environment it is operating in”.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association said the law would further restrict the media environment, where self-censorship has become commonplace since the 2020 national security law. Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, publisher of the now-shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, is facing trial under the 2020 national security law.
The last British governor of Hong Kong, Lord Patten of Barnes, was one of 78 past and present parliamentarians from around the world who signed an open letter saying the security legislation would bring “a further devastating blow to the city’s autonomy, rule of law, rights and fundamental freedoms”.
Patten said the law was a “disgraceful breach of the joint declaration” under which Britain and China agreed the 1997 handover of Hong Kong.
Amnesty International said the bill was a “crushing blow” to human rights in Hong Kong, while the UN’s human rights commissioner called it a “regressive step”.
Lee denied that the law put an end to the “one country, two systems” principle. “Two systems must not be used to resist one country,” he said.
– Washington Post, The Times