Pending law will punish secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference but many fear will also curb rights and liberties
When Hong Kong authorities attempted to push through amendments to the city’s extradition laws last year, more than a million protesters took to the streets of the Chinese-ruled financial hub to oppose changes that would have allowed criminal suspects to be tried in the mainland’s courts.
While the widely-opposed rendition bill was ultimately withdrawn, critics say newly proposed national security legislation will effectively bring the mainland’s legal system to Hong Kong, with China’s National People’s Congress empowered to write and apply the still pending law without the approval of the territory’s legislature.
Though Beijing has yet to confirm the bill’s relevant clauses, officials have indicated that those in breach of the law, which will punish secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in the city’s affairs, could be extradited to the mainland for trial, just as the earlier, now shelved proposal controversially sought.
Many see the precedent set by the central government using exemptions in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the territory’s de facto constitution, to impose the new legislation as an inflection point that could spell the end of the “one country, two systems” framework enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration that guarantees the city’s high degree of autonomy.
When Hong Kong authorities attempted to push through amendments to the city’s extradition laws last year, more than a million protesters took to the streets of the Chinese-ruled financial hub to oppose changes that would have allowed criminal suspects to be tried in the mainland’s courts.
While the widely-opposed rendition bill was ultimately withdrawn, critics say newly proposed national security legislation will effectively bring the mainland’s legal system to Hong Kong, with China’s National People’s Congress empowered to write and apply the still pending law without the approval of the territory’s legislature.
Though Beijing has yet to confirm the bill’s relevant clauses, officials have indicated that those in breach of the law, which will punish secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in the city’s affairs, could be extradited to the mainland for trial, just as the earlier, now shelved proposal controversially sought.
Many see the precedent set by the central government using exemptions in Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the territory’s de facto constitution, to impose the new legislation as an inflection point that could spell the end of the “one country, two systems” framework enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration that guarantees the city’s high degree of autonomy.
Read the full story at Asia Times.
Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
