Hong Kong

China is in the process of passing a new law that would deal with Hong Kong, largely until now considered part of China, yet independent, that would be aimed at “secession, subversion, and terrorism” Beijing rejects the idea that their Central Government is somehow limiting the autonomy of the people of Hong Kong and that the bill is aimed more at subversion. Hong-Kong’s Chief Executive Lam refused to comment on the legislation stating that she would not comment on a piece of legislation until it becomes law. Analysts point out also that it lets China have a say over the judges when it comes to national security concerns.

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Anna Corren, a CNN correspondent states that it is 1. the end of 1 country 2 systems, we’ve been expecting this law for a long time. 2. CNN stated that protesters would likely end up in jail, Anna says it’s China taking control of Hong Kong again. 3. The maximum penalty would be life in prison rather than 10 years what was originally thought. 4. Chinese officials operating in Hong Kong is new– this is the first time that it’s happened. Joshua Wong, an activist on Twitter that helped start the pro-democracy movements on Twitter tweeted that it “marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before.

This bill would give China much more sway over internal matters of Hong-Kong, and young people are in fear that their protest movement, that happened last year will not be able to last much longer. This changing of status with Hong Kong in terms of self-governance has lead the United States to issue a proclamation rescinding its special status with Hong Kong.

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In the 1990s, Hong Kong was given back to China on the condition that it would respect its autonomy and that it would allow their country to be Democratic. Hong Kong maintains certain freedoms that China doesn’t have such as free-speech, a judiciary system, and the right to protest. With Hong Kong being much more involved, it’s being questioned how much longer those are likely to last, or, if they’ll still be lasting at all. With protesters being fearful of China already, the notion of China somehow becoming more involved with Hong-Kong really scares some younger protesters and makes some of them want to leave.

Hong Kong security law appears to be reasonable but upon further analysis, it targets people all over the world.

The controversial new Beijing law was just released, after it was passed. On its face, it doesn’t seem that bad, however, in practice, hundreds of protesters have been arrested on the same day that the bill was passed. But, multiple critics, point to the extra-territorial nature of the bill, stating that it covers everyone globally.

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Looking at the text, the text seems to try to make it clear that it’s going after people who commit offenses in the region, and that they don’t have to be from the region to be punished, rather than simply just writing a text that’s anti-China, but, it’s still new, China does not have a good track record when it comes to respecting the rule of law, and already, as, we can see, the police-force were prepped with the passing of the law to take enforcement action against Hong Kong protesters.

Human rights shall be respected and protected in safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The rights and freedoms, including the freedoms of speech, of the press, of publication, of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration, which the residents of the Region enjoy under the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong Kong, shall be protected in accordance with the law.

Beijing is claiming that they are ONLY targeting the “subversion of state power, terrorism, and collusion with foreign entities”, per NPR _[1], and, each crime will have life in prison. Beijing will be operating their own national security agency and their national security forces in Hong Kong for the first time that will be only answerable to China.

Per NPR, “With this law being superior to all local law and the Basic Law (Hong Kong’s constitution) itself, there is no avenue to challenge the vague definitions of the four crimes in the law as violating basic rights,” states Michael C. Davis, who is a fellow at the Wilson Center. “Beijing is setting itself as the ultimate authority over Hong Kong giving them no resource in the final decision.”

Donald Clark, a Professor of Law at George Washington, is not alone in stating that the law would be extra-territorial in-scope. It would not just target residents of China, but, article 38 of the law would target everyone on the globe.

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Anyone who is an official in Hong Kong has to also swear to China as well according to official text of the law. As CNN originally reported, China stated that the law will only affect a small number of people, in terms of national security. They say they are not going after the Democracy movement and they respect that Hong Kong has a plurality of political beliefs.

Chan Kin-Man, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who is also a co-founder of the 2014 Occupy Central protests, states that with the new law, there is no difference between Hong Kong and China, what’s not clear is the global implications that this bill will have– this bill seems more targeted at the protest movement, and protesters have already begun deleting their Twitter accounts, and preparing for the worst. So, it should be clear to anyone right now that what China says and what they do are two very different things.

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