On Friday, the proposal to establish a new Hong Kong security law was presented in China’s legislature a move that has been condemned by the US.
Hong Kong| The National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp legislature, approved plans Thursday to impose a security law on Hong Kong that critics say will abolish the city’s promised freedoms.
The vote came hours after the United States revoked the special status conferred on Hong Kong, providing the way for the territory to be stripped of trading and economic privileges.
The status had been withdrawn because China was no longer honouring its handover agreement with Britain to allow Hong Kong a high level of autonomy, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
The implementation of the new law opposes threat by US President Donald Trump to respond strongly to a measure that democracy advocates say will curb fundamental freedoms in the city.
The United States is presently involved in a tense showdown with China on the issue of trade, the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the new security law in Hong Kong and the China’s aggressive military moves in the disputed South China Sea.
There has been longstanding friction between China and the US over trade, human rights and other issues since before the pandemic.
The move sends the message that expression of political dissent or freedom of speech in Hong Kong is now at higher risk than ever, endangering a press that has operated largely unfettered by political restrictions.
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The action could spur China’s worsening relations with the United States, which has long criticized China over the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy.
Beijing authorities are already defending themselves from claims of negligence and cover-up in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is considered to have emerged in Wuhan late last year.
Hong Kong witnessed seven months of massive and sometimes violent protests last year against Beijing’s growing control.
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