World reacts to China’s Hong Kong national security legislation

Pro-democracy supporters around the world have reacted with horror to China’s harsh new national security legislation for Hong Kong.

China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong Tuesday, dramatically tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city.

The historic move was decried by Western nations as a threat to the financial hub’s freedoms.

Described by Beijing as a “sword” hanging over the heads of those endangering national security, the law took effect hours after it was signed by President Xi Jinping and just six weeks since it was first unveiled.

Fed up with pro-democracy protests that rocked the city last year, China’s top lawmaking body enacted the legislation following closed-door deliberations that kept details secret until its passage.

Riot police set up a cordon during a protest against the national security law. Picture: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

The law gives Beijing jurisdiction over “very serious” national security crimes, with offenders facing up to life in prison, according to the text published late Tuesday.

The controversial law also empowers China to set up a national security agency in the city, staffed by officials who are not bound by local law when carrying out duties.

The new suite of powers radically restructures the relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong, toppling the legal firewall that has existed between the city’s independent judiciary and the mainland’s party-controlled courts.

Pro-democracy supporters around the world reacted to the passing of the law with horror.

The #NationalSecurityLaw imposed by Beijing on #HongKong is more outrageous than expected

Not only does it impose life sentences

It also potentially makes me & my colleagues "criminals"

Article 38 says non-HK citizens not even in HK can be deemed to have violated this Law! pic.twitter.com/x8S8V5zzZn

— Benedict Rogers ç¾…å‚‘æ–¯ (@benedictrogers) June 30, 2020

One of the characteristics is this law is its overarching scope. Article 38 says this law is also applicable to non-Hong Kong permanent residents. If they violate the law outside Hong Kong, they can be held justiciable. #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/GCYSzKNcXh

— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) June 30, 2020

Still digging into this law, but overall it seems to effectively criminalize *ordinary* life in Hong Kong: saying what you please, communicating as you please, gathering as you please, protesting as you please.

— Emily Rauhala (@emilyrauhala) June 30, 2020

The brutal purpose of Beijing’s so-called “national security” law is to frighten, intimidate & suppress the speech of Hong Kongers. All freedom-loving people must come together to condemn this law, which signals the death of the “one country, two systems” principle.

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 30, 2020

In other words, this provision could force people to choose between activism outside of Hong Kong, and ever returning to Hong Kong (or China) again.

— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) June 30, 2020

“It marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before,” prominent democracy campaigner Joshua Wong tweeted as his political party Demosisto announced it was disbanding.

“With sweeping powers and ill-defined law, the city will turn into a #secretpolicestate.”

Some Hong Kongers responded by deleting Twitter accounts and scrubbing other social media platforms.

Women are arrested and led onto a bus by police during a protest against China’s planned national security law in Hong Kong on June 28. Picture: Isaac Lawrence/AFP

Riot police stand guard outside a shop during a protest against the national security law. Picture: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images

In contrast, former city leader Leung Chun-ying took to Facebook to offer bounties of up to $HK1 million ($A130,000) for anyone who could help secure the first prosecutions under the new legislation or track down people who have recently fled the city.

Even Hong Kong’s current Chief Executive Carrie Lam had not seen a draft of the legislation before it was passed. Picture: Anthony Wallace/AFP

Twenty-seven countries, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, urged Beijing to “reconsider the imposition” of the legislation, saying in a statement to the UN Human Rights Council that it “undermines” the city’s freedoms.

The move has also added fuel to tensions between Washington and Beijing.

The US passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act last year requring the government to impose sanctions against China and Hong Kong officials considered responsible for human rights abuses in Hong Kong.

President Donald Trump has said he would strip Hong Kong of its special status with the US in response to the new national security law.

– with AFP