BEIJING (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) - China will propose national security laws for Hong Kong in reaction to the previous year’s often violent pro-democracy protests that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday (May 21).
The report confirmed what three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Xinhua said a preparatory meeting for a Chinese parliament session adopted an agenda that included an item to review a bill “on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security”.
At a press conference late on Thursday, the spokesman for China’s parliament said safeguarding national security served the fundamental interests of all Chinese and Hong Kong citizens.
Zhang Yesui, asked by reporters about security legislation, said national security was the bedrock underpinning the stability of the country.
Earlier, the South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the laws would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference in the previous British colony.
The legislation, which could be introduced as a motion to China’s parliament, could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest.
Online posts have already emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans in a shopping mall as riot police stood nearby.
Hong Kong people took to the streets the previous year, sometimes in their millions, to protest a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions of criminal suspects to mainland China.
The movement broadened to include demands for broader democracy amid perceptions that Beijing was tightening its grip over the city.
“If Beijing passes the law ... how (far) will civil society resist repressive laws? How much impact will it unleash onto Hong Kong as an international financial centre?” said Ming Sing, political scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
The Hong Kong dollar weakened on the news.
Earlier on Thursday, China said it supports improving "the system and mechanism" related to the Constitution and Basic Law of Hong Kong and Macau.
The previous European colonies returned to Chinese rule in the late 1990s under a system aimed at preserving their economic systems and ensuring their autonomy, known as "one country, two systems".
"We will push for the long-term stability of one country, two systems ... and continue to support the improvement of implementing the systems and mechanisms of the Constitution and Basic Law," Wang Yang, the ruling Communist Party's fourth-ranked leader and head of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said in a speech.
He did not elaborate. Hong Kong's "Basic Law" is its mini Constitution.
Wang's remarks came at the opening of a session of the government advisory body that meets in parallel with Parliament, which starts its annual session on Friday (May 22) and will lay out policy targets and initiatives for the year.
Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997. The previous Portuguese colony of Macau returned two years afterwards.
The high degree of autonomy promised to Hong Kong for 50 years under the "one country, two systems" arrangement has helped it thrive as a financial centre, while Macau is a major gambling centre.
However, several people in Hong Kong fear that Beijing is whittling away at its freedoms, worries that fuelled the sometimes violent protests the previous year. The protests have ebbed since January because of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“This is them saying, ‘I'm calling the shots. I'm setting the parameters. Resistance is futile,’” said Joseph Cheng, a retired political science professor and veteran pro-democracy activist. “It’s part of their approach of no concessions, no dialogue.”
Earlier, pro-Beijing figures including Chan Man-ki and Ng Chau-pei, both Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress, had said they would propose the security laws by bypassing the city’s Legislative Council.
The laws are vigorously opposed by pro-democracy politicians and have sparked mass protests in the past. The national security laws are required to eventually be passed by Article 23 of the Basic Law.
However, successive governments have failed to pass them, with the latest effort in 2003 resulting in widespread street demonstrations.
The proposal from the Hong Kong NPC delegates suggests passing the same security laws by using Article 18, which permits the national legislature to pass laws relating to defense or foreign affairs if, among other things, it believes there is “turmoil within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region which endangers national unity or security and is beyond the control of the government” or a state of emergency.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, whose extradition bill the previous year ignited unprecedented unrest in the city, said this week that she viewed the national security laws as an “important constitutional requirement for the government”, that was needed in light of the “violence and near terrorist acts” of the recent protests.
Scuffles broke out in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council this month as pro-democracy legislators sought to block Beijing-backed bills, including one criminalising disrespect for the national anthem.
Some protesters have called for demonstrators to surround the legislature to block the second reading of the bill on May 27, nearly 11 months after some demonstrators broke into and ransacked the chamber.