New law tramples Hong Kong

It is no surprise that Joshua Wong, the leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, has described the draconian new security legislation Beijing is imposing on the territory as “an evil law”. Or that having read its details for the first time on Saturday, the local Legislative Council member, Fernando Cheung, concluded the law will conclusively demolish the special status and freedom that Hong Kong was solemnly promised in 1997 for the next 50 years. It will, he said, “immediately turn Hong Kong into (just another) mainland city”. The law could be imposed by the end of the month.

That dismal assessment is accurate. In a document that reflects all the finesse of an oppressive colonial power hellbent on imposing its will, regardless of the cost, Beijing has spelled out a new, authoritarian system that will betray the “one country, two systems” undertaking. President Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party will assume the legal power to override any and all laws that have until now run Hong Kong, specifically in dealing with and punishing acts of “secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces”. Hong Kong demonstrators demanding democracy could find themselves sent to the mainland for trial in courts run by CCP hacks — the issue that sparked the uprising against Beijing’s rule. A new security committee “supervised and accountable to Beijing” will be established and “overseen” by Beijing’s handmaid, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who cravenly expressed her “gratitude” to Beijing for the new regime. She will be empowered to “cherry-pick” which judges handle cases. Under contentious legislation making it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem, the new law imposes a strict loyalty oath designed to ensure China’s democratic critics will not be allowed to run for office in September’s Legislative Council elections.

In making good on its repeated warnings to put a stop to the rebellion, the CCP is defying local and world opinion. Hong Kong’s seven million people desperately want the freedom they were promised in 1997. Last week, the Group of Seven leading economies expressed “grave concern” that the new security law would breach Beijing’s international commitments. Hard times lie ahead for Hong Kong, with the US pledging to end the territory’s trading privileges and the economy facing its deepest recession on record.

Having fought a noble fight for its democratic rights, Hong Kong should not be abandoned by the free world. Its fate is part of a much broader problem of confronting Chinese aggression.