Hong Kong law signed
CHINESE President Xi Jinping has signed a decree enacting a national security law for Hong Kong, which has stoked fears among pro-democracy activists in the city.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee, a top legislative body, unanimously approved the legislation. It also added it to Hong Kong’s Basic Law. Details of the law have not yet been released, but it took effect as of yesterday.
The legislation targets secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China that until now has enjoyed freedoms not seen on the mainland.
The law clearly defines the duties and government bodies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) for safeguarding national security; the four categories of offences – secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security – and their corresponding penalties; jurisdiction, applicable law and procedure; office of the central people’s government for safeguarding national security in the HKSAR.
The law is a landmark one for upholding and improving the institutional framework of the “one country, two systems” under new circumstances.
It will effectively safeguard national security, and lasting peace, stability and prosperity in Hong Kong, and ensure the steady and sustained development of the cause of the “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong.
Critics fear the law will quash dissent in the financial hub, which has been roiled by protests for the past year. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the law was “both necessary and urgent in order to plug the loophole in national security in Hong Kong”.
In a separate recorded video message to the UN Human Rights Council, Lam defended the legislation by arguing that the central government in Beijing could not turn a blind eye to violent protests, as well as to calls for independence and foreign interference from some Hong Kong politicians.
“Basic rights and freedoms of the overwhelming majority of Hong Kong residents will be protected,” she said.
Lam accused foreign governments that are criticising the law of double standards and said that every country had the right to have national security legislation.
Foreign governments and rights groups have decried the law’s passage.
The European Commission considers the new legislation to be a breach of China’s international commitments and is “seriously concerned”, commission president Ursula von der Leyen said.