China to impose new national security law on Hong Kong

Record ID: 1957705

  • Title: China to impose new national security law on Hong Kong
  • Date: 21st May 2020
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (MAY 21, 2020) (CCTV - NO USE CHINA) NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS SPOKESPERSON, ZHANG YESUI (CENTRE), ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS SPOKESPERSON, ZHANG YESUI, SAYING: "National Security is the bedrock of the country's stability. Safeguarding national security is the common interest of
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: China Hong Kong National Security Hong Kong protests NPC Zhang Yesui coronavirus
  • Location: BEIJING, CHINA
  • City: BEIJING, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,China (PRC),Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001CEVGTHJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: China is set to impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong after last year's often violent pro-democracy unrest that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Beijing rule in 1997, a Chinese official said on Thursday (May 21).
    "In light of the new circumstances and need, the National People's Congress (NPC) is exercising its constitutional power" to establish a new legal framework and enforcement mechanism to safeguard national security in Hong Kong, Zhang Yesui, the spokesman for the legislature, said.
    He was speaking at a late night briefing on the eve of the start of China's annual parliamentary session. Further details would be given on Friday (May 22), he added.
    Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong have for years strongly opposed the idea of national security laws, arguing they could erode the city's high degree of autonomy, guaranteed under the "one country, two systems" formula put in place when it returned to Chinese rule.
    The legislation, which will be deliberated by the NPC, could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest.
    A previous attempt by Hong Kong to introduce national security legislation, known as Article 23, in 2003 was met with mass peaceful protests and shelved.
    Hong Kong has a constitutional obligation to enact Article 23 "on its own", but similar laws can be introduced by Beijing separately into an annex of the Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution.
    That legal mechanism could bypass the city's legislature as the laws could be imposed by promulgation by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government.
    "Some people are destroying Hong Kong's peace and stability. Beijing saw all that has happened," pro-establishment lawmaker Christopher Cheung, who is not part of discussions in Beijing, told Reuters.
    Zhang also said that biosecurity legislation will be reviewed in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Epidemic emergency response will be revised.
    China's parliament, the NPC, will begin its annual session on Friday, after months of delay due to the coronavirus.
    (Production: Joyce Zhou, Pak Yiu, Andrew Ragg, Tara Oakes)
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