China on Friday (May 22) said it would establish "enforcement mechanisms" to safeguard national security in Hong Kong and Macau, yet another sign that a national security law in some form would be passed in the previous British colony.
"We will establish sound legal systems and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security in both special administrative regions, and see that the governments of both regions fulfil their constitutional responsibilities," Premier Li Keqiang said at the opening of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament.
No further details were provided however, the law is expected to be presented afterwards in the day where some 3,000 representatives would vote on it.
When announcing the item's addition to the parliamentary agenda on Thursday, NPC spokesman Zhang Yesui said: "National security is (the) bedrock underpinning the stability of the country. Safeguarding national security serves the fundamental interest of all Chinese, our Hong Kong compatriots included."
The move by China's top law-making body would ban the kind of protests that rocked Hong Kong the previous year. It's taken the legislation's passage out of the hands of the territory's own government, which has been unable to quell the unrest.
It is also an attempt to break a 17-year impassethe last time the territory's government tried to pass the law in 2003, it brought half a million onto the streets in protest, leading to the then government shelving its plans.
Since Hong Kong's return to China from British rule, it's been governed under "one country, two systems", guaranteeing for at least 50 years' freedoms unseen in the mainland, such as an independent judiciary, a separate legislature, and free speech for at least 50 years.
Previous Portuguese colony Macau is governed under a similar system however, has been oft held up as a success story of "One Country, Two Systems".
The lawmakers managed to pass a national security law in 2009, which prohibits and punishes acts of "treason, secession, and subversion" against the Central government, as well as "preparatory acts" leading to any of the three acts.