Song Hong
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Beijing will introduce a draft resolution to allow the National People’s Congress to chart legislation for a new national security law tailor-made for Hong Kong that will proscribe secessionist and subversive activity, foreign interference and terrorism in the city, sources have told the Post.
A Beijing source said the new law would ban all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and external interference in Hong Kong’s affairs. It would also target terrorist acts in Hong Kong.
A mainland source familiar with Hong Kong affairs said Beijing had concluded that it was impossible for the city’s Legislative Council to pass a national security law to enact Article 23 given the city’s political climate and hence was turning to the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, to take on the responsibility.
If the process as outlined by sources is confirmed, Hong Kong will finally have national security laws, 23 years after the handover of the city from British to Chinese rule.
It would also mark a significant departure from Beijing’s earlier decision to allow Hong Kong to draft and enact the legislation within its own legislature.
The Basic Law, or the city’s mini-constitution, requires the Hong Kong government to enact its own national security law prohibiting acts of “treason, secession, sedition, or subversion” under Article 23.
But the law has been in abeyance since 1997. In 2003, the Hong Kong government was forced to shelve a national security bill after an estimated half a million people took to the streets to oppose the legislation, which they warned would curb their rights and freedoms.
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...ee&MCAccountID=3775521f5f542047246d9c827&tc=2
A Beijing source said the new law would ban all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and external interference in Hong Kong’s affairs. It would also target terrorist acts in Hong Kong.
A mainland source familiar with Hong Kong affairs said Beijing had concluded that it was impossible for the city’s Legislative Council to pass a national security law to enact Article 23 given the city’s political climate and hence was turning to the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, to take on the responsibility.
If the process as outlined by sources is confirmed, Hong Kong will finally have national security laws, 23 years after the handover of the city from British to Chinese rule.
It would also mark a significant departure from Beijing’s earlier decision to allow Hong Kong to draft and enact the legislation within its own legislature.
The Basic Law, or the city’s mini-constitution, requires the Hong Kong government to enact its own national security law prohibiting acts of “treason, secession, sedition, or subversion” under Article 23.
But the law has been in abeyance since 1997. In 2003, the Hong Kong government was forced to shelve a national security bill after an estimated half a million people took to the streets to oppose the legislation, which they warned would curb their rights and freedoms.
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong...ee&MCAccountID=3775521f5f542047246d9c827&tc=2
