China on Tuesday passed a new national security law for Hong Kong aimed at crushing dissent in a city where millions protested last year demanding greater autonomy from Beijing.
The law dramatically changes the complexion of Hong Kong society, which has long enjoyed special freedoms absent from mainland China that for decades have contributed to the city’s status as a global financial center and cosmopolitan haven for expatriates.
“Beijing has passed the comprehensive national security law. It marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before, “Joshua Wong, Hong Kong’s most recognizable opposition figure, tweeted.
The unanimous approval of the law by China’s top legislature diverts Beijing’s relationship with other major powers into deeper uncertainty. In recent months, China has taken a more conflicting nationalist stance with Taiwan, India, Australia and what analysts call a new Cold War with the United States.
In anticipation of the law, US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo announced Monday that the United States would restrict exports of defense equipment to Hong Kong: “The decision of the Chinese Communist Party to eviscerate the freedoms of Hong Kong it has forced the Trump Administration to reevaluate its policies towards the territory, “Pompeo said in a statement.
China and Hong Kong could still face tougher sanctions on the law, which comes at a time when the Communist Party is determined to bring the semi-autonomous city more closely into Beijing’s orbit.
The State Department told Congress in May that Hong Kong was no longer autonomous from China, a move that could threaten the city’s special trade status with the US and reduce its image as a free-moving metropolis. The new law is reportedly to take effect on Wednesday the 23rd anniversary of the 1997 handover of the former British colony to China.
The growing fear in Hong Kong centers on how the law will tear down the firewall that separates the city of more than 7 million from the mainland. Unlike Hong Kong’s British-style common law, China arbitrarily exercises its laws to silence any opposition to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Hong Kong people are used to the inherent landmarks of Western societies, such as freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and an independent press. The law, which targets acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces to jeopardize national security, will have a chilling effect on all forms of dissent against China, critics say.
Its approval allows China’s national spy agency to officially establish offices and jurisdiction in Hong Kong.
Few, if any, of Hong Kong’s leaders were privy to the details of the law, highlighting Chinese President Xi Jinping’s increasingly autocratic government and his desire to stop a pro-democracy movement that has baffled Beijing at one point. that Xi is looking to expand the nation. global influence The move is also an indication that Xi wants to avoid Hong Kong authorities and run the city with agencies and officials more closely linked to the mainland.
Democracy activists in Hong Kong are still trying to determine whether the law will apply retroactively. Many in Hong Kong say they have been removing their social media accounts to hide support for the protest movement. Others are making plans to migrate abroad.
Members of Hong Kong’s opposition parties are also unclear whether their public support for greater autonomy will disqualify them from seeking office.
“It is clear that Hong Kong has changed permanently as of today, and perhaps most alarmingly of all, no one, including our highest government officials, knows exactly how,” said Antony Dapiran, lawyer and author of “City in flames: the fight for Hong Kong. “
Hong Kong Executive Director Carrie Lam said the law will only target a small minority of criminals.
Hong Kong was supposed to maintain a high degree of autonomy from China for 50 years after the British returned to the colony in 1997 under a special one-country-two-system agreement.
Beijing has reinterpreted that agreement as it is frustrated by its inability to force the people of Hong Kong to submit to its rule. A 2003 offer to impose a national security law was scrapped due to the protests. Later, a patriotic education initiative was blocked by a massive opposition.
Major protest movements erupted in 2014 and 2019, paralyzing swaths of the city and creating a gap between Beijing’s supporters and those who wanted greater autonomy, a division that often appeared across generational lines.
A recent Reuters poll showed that support for the protest movement is declining. However, 49% of respondents said they strongly opposed national security law, while 27% said they supported it.
The new national security law was implemented because it circumvented Hong Kong’s mini constitution, known as the Basic Law.
The role of Hong Kong courts in defending the law remains unclear. The city’s business community could now be subject to the same arbitrary application of national security standards that exist across the border in China.
Without the firewall, experts say that could speed up the shift from Hong Kong’s corporate headquarters to Singapore and mainland cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Although Hong Kong represents only a fraction of China’s economy compared to the past, the financial center still serves as a vital source of capital and foreign exchange as Beijing has yet to make the yuan fully convertible.
