Sunday, December 21, 2025

"How China’s National Security Law Has Changed Hong Kong"

From Bloomberg, December 18:

After pro-democracy protests rocked Hong Kong in 2019, mainland China tightened its grip by imposing a broad national security law on the former British colony. Since then, dozens of opposition figures have been arrested, including Jimmy Lai, a former media tycoon and pro-democracy campaigner. In mid-December, Lai was found guilty of national security crimes after a trial that demonstrated Chinese President Xi Jinping’s resolve to stamp out political dissent in the once-freewheeling financial hub.

Lai is the most prominent among dozens of democracy advocates who have been convicted under the new security law. Western governments and rights groups have criticized the legislation for eroding the considerable autonomy and freedom of expression promised to Hong Kongers before the British handed over the city to Chinese control almost three decades ago. Beijing has defended its actions, and decried foreign criticism as interference in its affairs.

What is the Hong Kong National Security Law?
The National Security Law is the most significant in a series of similar statutes that came into effect since 2020. It punishes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and “collusion with foreign and external forces.” It asserts broad powers to control opposition to state institutions, whether it comes from democracy advocates, independent media or overseas dissidents. The legislation was passed in 2020 by China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, and endorsed by Xi without public debate in Hong Kong or a vote by its legislature. It allows for sentences as long as life in prison and extends to actions committed by anyone, resident or foreigner.

Among the other measures:

  • The Standing Committee in 2020 imposed a requirement that Hong Kong lawmakers show sufficient loyalty to the central government. The move triggered four expulsions and the mass resignations of the 15 remaining opposition members of the then-70 seat Legislative Council, known as LegCo.
  • An overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral system approved the following year reduced the number of directly elected seats in LegCo and required that candidates be vetted to ensure only “patriots” who “respect” Chinese Communist Party rule can run for office.
  • The new loyalty pledge to China drove almost three-fourths of Hong Kong’s District Council members out of office.
  • Hong Kong schools were ordered to adopt a more patriotic curriculum and teachers were advised to report any breaches of the national security law.
Why did Beijing impose the Hong Kong security law? 
In 2019, mass street protests and political victories by pro-democracy opposition politicians posed the biggest challenge yet to Chinese authority over the former British colony.

Authorities contended that the new law was needed because Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, required the Legislative Council to replace colonial-era security laws with measures to protect the Chinese state. The first attempt to do so in 2003 was withdrawn in the face of mass demonstrations. Some of the changes proposed appeared to be more liberal than the British regulations still on the books, but many feared their rights and freedoms would shrink to mainland levels. Clerics warned it could lead to churches being banned. The effort stalled, and Beijing took it upon itself to act. 

What happened to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests?
In 2020, the National Security Law and coronavirus restrictions effectively put a halt to any public gatherings. With most of the city’s formal opposition in jail, in self-imposed exile or out of office, there are few public figures left to challenge the government or China.

In 2024, the Hong Kong government passed further security legislation on top of the 2020 law. It gave authorities a wider range of tools to stifle dissent, with vague definitions used to categorize offenses such as “state secrets” and “external interference.”....

....MUCH MORE

The law certainly caught our attention. Including the part where it claims universal jurisdiction:

July 1, 2020 - Hong Kong’s National Security Law: a first look" 

China’s national security law for Hong Kong covers everyone on Earth 

January 2025's "DeepSeek and Chinese Security Laws: There Are No Secrets" had more on the various laws including this outro:

Finally, more on that universal jurisdiction (tweet disappeared but she was right):

THREAD

Here's Bethany:

Head of China investigations @aspi_cts. Was @axios @foreignpolicy @yale
@HopkinsNanjing. Author BEIJING RULES, FT Best Books 2023. bethanyallen AT aspi org au
https://x.com/BethanyAllenEbr/
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