Severe national security law expands scope abroad.

Summary

A sweeping security law fast-tracked by Hong Kong’s Legislative Council emboldens the government’s power to crush dissent. The piece of legislation, known as Article 23, expands the National Security Law imposed by Beijing in response to the anti-government protests that erupted in 2019.

“It makes the National Security regime much more comprehensive,” John Burns, an honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Al Jazeera. “It includes a whole raft of things that were not crimes before or that were colonial crimes, but they have updated the crimes, they have increased the penalty.”

The Safeguarding National Security Law passed on Tuesday includes new measures on treason, espionage, external interference, state secrets and sedition.

The New York Times writes:

Lawmakers had put the legislation on the fast track, holding marathon sessions over a week and working through a weekend.

“A rapid passage is meant to show people in Hong Kong the government’s resolve and ability to enforce it,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “The new national security bill is as much about intimidation as it is about enforcement.”

For Mr. Lee, the Hong Kong leader, “the first concern is not how people in Hong Kong or in the rest of the world see this,” Professor Tsang said. “He is performing for the audience of one — Xi himself.”

And in the eyes of Beijing, these laws are long overdue.

When Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese rule in 1997, it was given a mini-constitution designed to protect civil liberties unknown in mainland China, such as freedom of expression, assembly and the media. But China also insisted on a provision called Article 23, which required Hong Kong to draft a package of internal security laws to replace colonial-era sedition laws.

Hong Kong’s 2003 effort to pass internal security legislation not only triggered large protests. Top officials also resigned, and in the years that followed, city leaders were reluctant to raise the matter again, for fear of public backlash.

But in recent months, the Chinese Communist Party again urged the Hong Kong government to enact Article 23 laws.

Hong Kong Adopts Sweeping Security Laws, Bowing to Beijing

The CBC reports:

The new law expands the government’s power to stamp out future challenges to its rule, punishing treason and insurrection with up to life imprisonment. The law also includes stiff prison terms for other offences, including up to 20 years for espionage and up to 10 years for the unlawful disclosure of state secrets.

Some provisions allow criminal prosecutions for certain acts committed anywhere in the world. Additionally, tougher penalties would be imposed on people convicted of working with foreign governments or organizations to commit certain offences. For example, residents who damage public infrastructure with the intent to endanger national security could be jailed for 20 years — or life, if they collude with an external force to do so. 

Amnesty International’s China director Sarah Brooks worried that the new crime broadly defined as “external interference” could lead to the prosecution of activists who interacted with overseas individuals or organizations and be “framed as ‘endangering national security.'”

Authorities would also be empowered to use financial sanctions to punish people who have fled abroad.

The U.S. State Department, late last month, said the Article 23 security legislation furthers American concerns over an “ongoing campaign of transnational repression.”

Under the new bill, activists will face harsher penalties if they break the sedition law. They face seven years in prison if convicted for committing seditious acts or uttering seditious words — up from the current maximum sentence of two years. Colluding with an external force to carry out such activities is now punishable by up to 10 years, and it is not necessary for the prosecution to prove intent to incite public disorder or violence.

The law also authorizes stiffer measures against suspects in national security cases: Police can apply to the court to extend detention without charges and prohibit suspects from consulting certain legal representatives. Legal scholars and rights advocates say this would undermine due process.

The new law requires Chinese citizens to report to authorities if they know others are committing treason. Failure to report could be penalized by up to 14 years in prison.

Hong Kong’s New Security Law Expands Scope Abroad. What to Know About the Article 23 Laws