Chinese President Xi Jinping casts his vote on the national security legislation for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the closing session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China May 28, 2020. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly approved directly imposing national security legislation on Hong Kong to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in a city roiled last year by months of anti-government protests.
The National People’s Congress voted 2,878 to 1 in favor of the decision to empower its standing committee to draft the legislation, with six abstentions. The legislators gathered in the Great Hall of the People burst into sustained applause when the vote tally was projected onto screens.
(Reporting by Tony Munroe and Yew Lun Tian; Editing by Gareth Jones)
