China changes defy Trump

Chinese lawmakers approved a proposal for sweeping new national security legislation in Hong Kong, defying a threat by President Donald Trump to respond strongly to a measure that democracy advocates say will curb essential freedoms in the city.

The National People’s Congress, China’s rubberstamp legislature, approved the draft decision by a vote of 2,878-1 on Thursday at its annual session in Beijing, with six abstentions. Chinese officials could now take months to sort out the details of laws banning subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference before they’re given to Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed administration to promulgate.

The move to bypass the semi-autonomous city’s local Legislative Council has alarmed Hong Kong’s prodemocracy activists and opposition politicians. It risks spawning yet more protests in the city and could potentially prompt companies to flee if the laws undermine the independent judiciary in the Asian financial hub.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said shortly after the decision that the “one country, two systems” policy governing relations with the city would remain in place.

“The central government has all along fully and faithfully implemented” the system, he said at a briefing in Beijing at the end of the legislative session. The decision on national security laws would help “Hong Kong’s long-term stability and prosperity,” he added.

The Trump administration on Wednesday took the significant step of saying it could no longer certify Hong Kong’s autonomy from China, which was promised before the British handed the city back in 1997. The move could trigger a range of actions by the Trump administration, from sanctions on Chinese officials to revoking the city’s special trading status with the U.S.