HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong unveiled a proposed law that threatens life in prison for residents who “threaten national security” on Friday. deepening anxieties about the erosion of the city’s liberties four years after Beijing imposed a similar law that nearly crushed public dissent.
It is widely seen as the latest step in a crackdown on political opposition that began after the semi-autonomous Chinese city was rocked by violent pro-democracy protests in 2019. Since then, authorities have crushed the city’s once-vibrant political culture. Many of the city’s leading pro-democracy activists were arrested and others fled abroad. There were dozens of civil society groups dissolvedas well as outspoken media like Apple Daily and Stand News were turn off.
Hong Kong leader John Lee urged lawmakers to push through the national security protection bill “at full speed” and lawmakers began a debate hours after the bill was made public. It is expected to pass easily, possibly within weeks, in a legislature full of Beijing loyalists optional repair.
The proposed law would expand the government’s powers to challenge its rule, targeting espionage, disclosure of state secrets and “collusion with outside powers” to commit illegal acts, among others. It includes tougher penalties for people convicted of working with foreign governments or organizations to violate some of its provisions.
The law would jail people who damage public infrastructure with the intent to endanger national security for 20 years — or for life if they conspire with an outside power to do so. In 2019, protesters occupied the airport and vandalized train stations.
Similarly, those who commit rebellion face seven years in prison, but conspiring with an outside power to commit such acts increases that sentence to 10 years.
On Thursday, an appeals court upheld a conviction for rebellion against a pro-democracy activist for chanting slogans and criticizing the Beijing-imposed 2020 National Security Law during a political campaign.
Its expanded definition of external powers includes foreign governments and political parties, international organizations and “any other organization in an external location that pursues political objectives” – as well as companies that are influenced by such powers. Beijing has said the 2019 unrest was backed by outside forces and condemned the city’s government for what it called outside interference in the protests.
The bill allows prosecution for acts committed anywhere in the world for most of its crimes.
Critics say the proposed law will make Hong Kong even more like mainland China.
The European Union said the bill covered “an even wider range” of crimes than previously disclosed, including broad bans on outside interference and significantly tougher sentencing provisions.
“The legislation risks exacerbating the erosion of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong brought about in particular by the National Security Act 2020,” it said.
However, Beijing insisted that the bill balances maintaining security with protecting rights and freedoms. The city government said it was necessary to prevent a repeat of the mass anti-government protests that rocked the city in 2019, insisting it would affect only an “extremely small minority” of disaffected residents.
It defines national security as a state in which the political regime and sovereignty of the state are relatively free from dangers and threats, as well as the welfare of the people and the economic and social development of the state among other “core interests”.
Legislature President Andrew Leung told reporters the process was expedited because the bill was needed to protect national security.
“If you look at other countries, they introduced it within a day, two weeks, three weeks… So why can’t Hong Kong do it in a fast way? You tell me,” said the pro-Beijing politician.
But the British consulate in Hong Kong urged the authorities to “allow time for appropriate legislative scrutiny”. The city was a British colony until it returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, requires the city to pass a national security law, but a previous attempt sparked mass street protest that drew half a million people and the legislation was shelved.
Those against the current bill are unlikely because of the chilling effect of the 2020 law after it was passed to quell the 2019 protests.
During a month-long public comment period that ended last week, 98.6 percent of views received from officials showed support and just 0.72 percent opposed the proposals, the government said. The rest contain questions or opinions that do not reflect a position on the law, it added.
But businessmen and journalists have expressed fear that a broadly worded law could criminalize their day-to-day work, especially because the proposed definition of state secrets includes matters related to economic, social and technological development. The government tried to allay concerns by adding public interest protection under specific conditions to the proposal.
John Burns, professor emeritus of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong, said it remains to be seen how the courts will interpret the provision, which allows for a public interest defense against accusations of leaking state secrets.
The bill, if passed as introduced, would likely have a chilling effect on local civil society, Burns said, particularly political and public policy lobby groups that have benefited from ties to overseas counterparts.
“At least initially, I expect them to be particularly cautious about expanding ties with similar groups abroad,” he said.
Eric Lai, a research fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said the fears “have now materialized.”
He called it “overbroad and vague,” especially for crimes involving state secrets and outside forces, and said it would undermine due process by allowing prolonged detention without charge and by limiting the right to a lawyer.
People arrested on suspicion of national security offenses and released on bail can face “restriction orders”, which restrict where they can go and where they can live, as well as prevent them from communicating with certain people.
Police can also apply to the court to extend detention and bar suspects from consulting certain lawyers.
Authorities will also be empowered to use financial sanctions to punish people who have fled abroad, such as preventing other people from hiring them, renting property to them, starting a business with them or providing them with economic support .
Last year, police offered rewards of HK$1 million ($128,000) to more than a dozen activists living overseas, including former lawmakers Nathan Lowe and Ted Hui, whom they accuse of conspiring with outside powers to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China.
Prisoners convicted of crimes related to national security will not be eligible for reduced sentences until authorities are satisfied that their early release will not endanger national security. This will apply to all national security prisoners, even those whose sentences were imposed before the bill.
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