Just a year after China imposed a controversial „national security“ law on Hong Kong, activists say it has helped make the city „more dangerous than Beijing.“
Hong Kong — Wednesday marked the first anniversary of ’s central government imposing a controversial new National Security Law on the once-semiautonomous region of. Human rights group Amnesty International took the opportunity to warn that the once free-wheeling, international city was on the fast-track to devolving into a „police state“ and „a human rights wasteland increasingly resembling mainland China.“ „From politics to culture, education to media, the law has infected every part of Hong Kong society and fomented a climate of fear that forces residents to think twice about what they say, what they tweet and how they live their lives,“ said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director. On June 30 one year ago, China’s National People’s Congress in Beijing rubber-stamped the controversial law in reaction to the popular pro-democracy, anti-China protests that rocked Hong Kong through much of 2019. It lists four categories of offenses as violations of China’s national security: The act of subversion, defined as attempting to undermine Hong Kong’s government; advocacy for secession, the separation of Hong Kong from the governance of China and committing an act of terrorism and colluding with foreign governments or forces. In reality, the National Security Law also empowers Hong Kong’s authorities to arrest and prosecute anyone they deem to be criticizing government leaders, whether in Hong Kong, Beijing or China’s Communist Party at large. Across this former British colony, the law has had a chilling effect on the words and actions of pro-democracy politicians, anti-China businesses, journalists and even the art world. „It’s very draconian, very sweeping, and very vague,“ said Emily Lau, the former chairwoman of Hong Kong’s now-embattled Democratic Party.
