China tightens grip on Hong Kong

BEIJING, May 23 (AFP), - China moved this week to quash Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement by unveiling plans for a new security law at the start of its annual parliamentary session that also laid bare the “immense” economic challenges caused by the coronavirus.

The 3,000-member National People's Congress (NPC) began with a minute of silence for China's victims of the coronavirus. The most controversial move at the NPC opening was the proposal to impose a security law in Hong Kong -- denounced by pro-democracy figures who called it a death sentence for the territory's freedoms.

The draft proposal would authorise Chinese lawmakers to enact long-delayed Hong Kong security legislation itself, rather than leaving it up to the territory's administration.