Legal experts had been uncertain how Mr. Xi could introduce a national security law into Hong Kong without going through the city’s Legislative Council, a body stacked with pro-Beijing members who have, nonetheless, hesitated to take such a contentious step. But Mr. Xi made a bold move to break the impasse in May, when a full session of the National People’s Congress nearly unanimously passed a resolution empowering the Congress’s Standing Committee to bring state security legislation into the Basic Law. The central government’s decision to impose a law effectively circumvents the Hong Kong legislature. Even Hong Kong politicians who have endorsed the law, including the territory’s top official, Carrie Lam, have said they have not been shown the full text by Beijing, which will bring into Hong Kong new crimes like inciting separatism and “colluding with foreign powers.”The law will also establish a new security agency in the territory to enforce the security restrictions, and Beijing will create its own separate security arm in Hong Kong, empowered to investigate special cases and collect intelligence, according to a summary issued by China’s legislature. The legislation also gives the territory’s chief official, who must answer to Beijing, the power to decide which judges are empowered to hear trials for state security charges, limiting the autonomy of the city’s judiciary.

Source: New York Times June 28, 2020 03:56 UTC