China’s Parliament passes law empowering Beijing to draft national security laws for Hong Kong

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  China’s Parliament passes law empowering Beijing to draft national security laws for Hong Kong

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1. China’s Parliament on May 28, 2020 passed new legislation for Hong Kong that will for the first time empower Beijing to draft national security laws for the Special Administrative Region (SAR).
2. At the closing session of the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, the draft legislation was passed overwhelmingly, with 2,878 votes for, one against and six abstentions in the Communist Party-controlled legislature.
3. The law, called the “NPC Decision on Establishing and Improving the Legal System and Enforcement Mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to Safeguard National Security”, essentially empowers the NPC to draft new national security laws for Hong Kong.
4. The draft legislation said the scope of the laws could cover any activity that “seriously endangers national security”. It said it was aimed at enabling “measures to counter, lawfully prevent, stop and punish foreign and overseas forces’ use of Hong Kong to carry out separatist, subversive, infiltrative, or destructive activities”.
5. Since 1997, Hong Kong has been governed by the Basic Law, which gives the SAR “executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication”. Only matters of defence and foreign affairs are handled by the central government.
6. While the law says the state would “fully, and accurately implement the principles of one country, two systems”, it also enables organs of the central government “for the protection of national security” to set up “institutions in the HKSAR”, a provision that has been a particular source of concern.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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