Hong Kong's new national-security law is one of the biggest assaults on a liberal society since the second world war
THE CHINESE government is spreading fear in Hong Kong. The first shock came in May, when it announced plans to impose a sweeping national-security law on the territory, without the say-so of its legislature. Then it drafted the bill behind closed doors, keeping details secret even from Hong Kong’s administration. Even after the law was passed on June 30th by China’s rubber-stamp parliament, hours passed before it was published at close to midnight.
But wait, surely this law is about crimes that threaten China’s security? Lambasting its authoritarian politics or quixotically suggesting that Hong Kong should be independent would hardly cause the ground to shake in Beijing. The party, however, takes a different view. The bill’s definitions of sedition, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers could be applied even to petty, non-violent activity.
This is a moment in modern China’s history a bit like the massacre in Beijing in 1989. It is a demonstration of the party’s ruthless determination to crush opposition no matter what the cost to its global reputation. Sadly, the world’s horror at the bloodshed, and the sanctions the West imposed on China in 1989, did not change the party’s views. And China was a minnow back then, its economy smaller than Spain’s. It is even less likely to pay heed to foreign critics today.
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