[ad_1]
Beijing plans to pass a new security law for Hong Kong that should ban “treason, subversive activity, and incitement to rebellion” against the country’s government. The law was proposed after massive, often violent, protests that rocked Hong Kong for months last year, and after Beijing warned it would not tolerate a different opinion.
Many Hong Kong residents, business groups and Westerners fear that the law will deal a fatal blow to urban freedoms. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, despite the ban on mass gatherings imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
While police were chasing protesters with tear gas and a water cannon, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien warned that the United States could revoke special trade privileges for Hong Kong because of this Chinese law.
But the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that Beijing will respond to any sanctions from Washington.
“If the United States wants to harm China’s interests, China will have to take all necessary measures to compensate and counter this,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters on Monday.
Hong Kong has become another source of strong tensions between the United States and China. As tensions over the coronavirus, Hong Kong state and other issues escalated, China’s foreign minister said on Sunday that the United States was pushing its relations with China to the “threshold of a new Cold War.”
Refusal to grant democracy to Hong Kong has led to infrequent support for both parties in Washington, which is otherwise highly fragmented under the Donald Trump administration.
China portrays the protests in Hong Kong as a foreign-backed conspiracy to destabilize the state, and says that other countries have no right to interfere with the city’s government.
Chinese agents?
The protesters, whose millions have taken to the streets, say they have been motivated year after year since 1997, when the British returned to Hong Kong to China, Beijing’s cut of urban liberties.
Hong Kong has unprecedented freedoms across much of China, as well as a separate legal system and commercial status.
Activists see the proposed law as Beijing’s most arrogant attempt to abolish freedom of expression and Hong Kong’s power to pass its own laws.
Of particular concern is the provision allowing Chinese security officers to operate in Hong Kong. It is feared that this may lead to dealing with the dissent of the Chinese rulers.
In most parts of China, laws on destructive activities are often used against government critics.
The Chinese legislature is expected to automatically pass the bill soon, which will also bypass Hong Kong’s law.
An influential Hong Kong Bar Association called the proposed law “alarming and problematic” on Monday. The bar warned that it could even violate the basic law of the territory.
“Restoring the social order”
The unpopular pro-Hong Kong government welcomed the bill.
“Terrorism is on the rise in the city, and activities that undermine national security, such as Hong Kong’s independence, are becoming increasingly unmanageable,” Security Minister John Lee said in a statement welcoming the law. planned.
Police Chief Chris Tang cited 14 recent explosives seizures and said the new law “will help combat the Hong Kong independence force and restore social order.”
The massive protests in Hong Kong last year were sparked by a now-repealed extradition bill that would have allowed the suspects to be extradited to China. However, the protests soon turned into a popular uprising against the Beijing and Hong Kong police forces.
Beijing has rejected protesters’ demands to investigate the police actions, declaring an amnesty for 8,500. they arrested people and gave them the universal right to vote.
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement was put down earlier this year due to continued arrests and, later, a ban on major coronavirus rallies.
In recent weeks, however, protests have erupted again. Clashes between protesters and police on Sunday were the largest in recent months, with at least 120 people arrested.
Last year, during mass protests, mafia attacks were frequent in both political fields. On Sunday, protesters filmed a lawyer during a rally, with much attention in the Chinese state media.
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the nationalist tabloid newspaper Global Times, posted the video on Twitter, which is banned in much of China.
“Let’s see what Washington-backed democracy really looks like in Hong Kong,” he wrote.
[ad_2]
