Tag Archives: Hong Kong

China warns U.S. it will retaliate on moves over Hong Kong

BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Monday U.S. attempts to harm Chinese interests will be met with firm countermeasures, criticizing a U.S. decision to begin ending special treatment for Hong Kong as well as actions against Chinese students and companies.

China’s parliament last week voted to move forward with imposing national security legislation on Hong Kong, which U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday was a tragedy for the people of the city, and which violated China’s promise to protect its autonomy.

Trump ordered his administration to begin the process of eliminating special U.S. treatment for Hong Kong to punish China, ranging from extradition treatment to export controls.

But he stopped short of calling an immediate end to privileges that have helped the former British colony remain a global financial center.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China firmly opposed the U.S. steps.

“The announced measures severely interfere with China’s internal affairs, damage U.S.-China relations, and will harm both sides. China is firmly opposed to this,” Zhao told reporters during a regular briefing.

“Any words or actions by the U.S. that harm China’s interests will meet with China’s firm counterattack,” he said.

But Hong Kong shares surged more than 3% on Monday as investors took comfort that Trump did not immediately end the special U.S. privileges.

At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 3.36%, its biggest one-day percentage gain since March 25.

“Chinese policymakers would likely want to see precisely what the US implements before responding with further policy adjustments or retaliation of their own,” Goldman Sachs wrote in a note on Sunday.

In making his Friday announcement, Trump used some of his toughest rhetoric yet against China, saying it had broken its word over Hong Kong’s autonomy by moving to impose the new national security legislation and the territory no longer warranted U.S. economic privileges.

Trump said China’s “malfeasance” was responsible for massive suffering and economic damage worldwide.

He said the United States would also impose sanctions on individuals seen as responsible for “smothering – absolutely smothering – Hong Kong’s freedom” but he did not name any of the potential sanctions targets.

Trump gave no time frame for the action, suggesting he may be trying to buy time before deciding whether to implement the most drastic measures, which have drawn strong resistance from U.S. companies operating in Hong Kong.

Earlier, Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government told the United States to keep out of the national security debate and warned that withdrawal of the financial hub’s special status could backfire on the U.S. economy.

(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley; writing by Se Young Lee and Tony Munroe; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Factbox: What China’s tougher national security regime could mean for Hong Kong

By Greg Torode and James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s parliament has approved a decision to go forward with national security legislation on Hong Kong to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference in a city roiled by anti-government protests.

The move is seen as a turning point, as leaders of the ruling Communist Party tighten control over China’s freest international city, undermining its reputation as a financial hub with substantial autonomy and an independent legal system.

U.S. reaction was swift, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo telling Congress that Hong Kong no longer qualified for special status under U.S. law, potentially dealing a crushing blow to its status as a global financial center.

WHAT DOES CHINA WANT?

Greater control and a sense of security. For several years, Chinese officials have expressed increasing frustration and anger over what they see as a weak national security regime in the city.

Last year’s large and sometimes violent anti-government protests have sharpened that frustration, with China determined to thwart what it calls threats of terrorism, independence, subversion of state power, and interference by foreign forces.

SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

Having been approved by parliament, the legislation will be grafted into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution without any local legislative scrutiny, as has been past practice.

Details of the law are expected to be drawn up in coming weeks. It is expected to be enacted before September.

China says Hong Kong has failed to implement national security laws on its own as stipulated in the city’s mini-constitution under the terms of its 1997 handover from Britain.

WHAT REMAINS UNCLEAR?

Hong Kong lawyers are puzzled over how the imposed provisions will work in practice.

Questions include whether all protections already in the Basic Law apply and whether locally based mainland agents have enforcement power.

Another issue is whether the standing committee of the National People’s Congress has extra powers to ultimately interpret Hong Kong court rulings on national security.

“There are suddenly a lot more questions than answers and it is not even clear whether anyone in the Hong Kong government is standing up internally against these changes,” one legal scholar said.

China also said its intelligence agencies would have the right to set up offices in Hong Kong to “safeguard national security”. It is not clear, however, whether they will carry out enforcement activities, a critical concern.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING NOW?

The issue sits at the heart of the “one country, two systems” formula under which China agreed to protect Hong Kong’s extensive freedoms, its high degree of autonomy and its independent legal system until 2047.

Those freedoms are protected by the Basic Law, which guides the relationship between Hong Kong and Beijing.

But Article 23 of the document also says Hong Kong must “on its own” enact laws against treason, secession, sedition, subversion and the theft of state secrets. It also seeks to outlaw ties between local and foreign political groups.

The Hong Kong government proposed such local legislation in 2003 but encountered vast opposition, with more than 500,000 people marching peacefully against it.

However, the Basic Law also gives Beijing the power to annex national laws into the document – which the Hong Kong government must then legislate for or effectively impose by executive fiat.

Hong Kong lawyers and politicians sometimes call this the “nuclear option”, but some scholars have questioned whether this power of promulgation applies to Article 23.

DO ANY SUCH LAWS ALREADY EXIST?

Yes. Britain left behind a raft of old laws covering most of the elements of Article 23, aside from subversion and secession – the act of formally withdrawing from a state.

Most are decades old and lawyers say they would be hard to deploy, given more recent protections on freedoms of speech, assembly and association written into the city’s Bill of Rights and the Basic Law itself.

IS IT CONTROVERSIAL?

Highly. Given Hong Kong’s protest movements and polarised politics, a fresh push even for local legislation would be tough.

Many fear that new national security legislation would prove a “dead hand” on the city’s large and pugnacious press and rich artistic traditions, while curbing its broad political debates.

Any step by Beijing to impose its own version via promulgation risks panic and chaos, many observers believe, potentially sparking a flight of people and capital and denting Hong Kong’s international financial role.

(Editing by Stephen Coates)

China’s parliament approves Hong Kong national security bill

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)

Hong Kong police arrest 300 as thousands protest over security laws

By Sarah Wu and Clare Jim

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Police in Hong Kong fired pepper pellets and made 300 arrests as thousands of people took to the streets on Wednesday to voice anger over national security legislation proposed by China, that has raised international alarm over freedoms in the city.

In the heart of the financial district, riot police fired pepper pellets to disperse a crowd, and elsewhere in the city police rounded up groups of dozens of suspected protesters, making them sit on sidewalks before searching their belongings.

A heavy police presence around the Legislative Council deterred protesters planning to disrupt the debate of a bill that would criminalize disrespect of the Chinese national anthem. The bill is expected to become law next month.

Angry over perceived threats to the semi-autonomous city’s freedoms, people of all ages took to the streets, some dressed in black, some wearing office clothes or school uniforms and some hiding their faces beneath open umbrellas in scenes reminiscent of the unrest that shook Hong Kong last year.

“Although you’re afraid inside your heart, you need to speak out,” said Chang, 29, a clerk and protester dressed in black with a helmet respirator and goggles in her backpack.

Many shops, banks and offices closed early.

The latest protests follow the Chinese government’s proposal for national security legislation aimed at tackling secession, subversion and terrorism in Hong Kong.

The planned laws could see Chinese intelligence agencies set up bases in Hong Kong.

The proposal, unveiled in Beijing last week, triggered the first big street unrest in Hong Kong in months on Sunday, with police firing tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters.

The United States, Britain, the European Union and others have expressed concern about the legislation, widely seen as a possible turning point for China’s freest city and one of the world’s main financial hubs.

But Chinese authorities and the Beijing-backed government in Hong Kong say there is no threat to the city’s high degree of autonomy and the new security law would be tightly focused.

“It’s for the long-term stability of Hong Kong and China, it won’t affect the freedom of assembly and speech and it won’t affect the city’s status as a financial center,” Hong Kong Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung told reporters.

U.S. President Donald Trump, already at odds with Beijing over trade and the novel coronavirus pandemic, said on Tuesday the United States would this week announce a strong response to the planned legislation.

China responded by saying it would take necessary countermeasures to any foreign interference.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen pledged humanitarian relief for any Hong Kong people fleeing to the self-ruled island.

Asian shares slipped over the rising tension between the United States and China. Hong Kong’s bourse < led declines with a 0.46% drop.

ARRESTS

Protesters in a downtown shopping mall chanted “Liberate Hong Kong! Revolution of our times” and “Hong Kong independence, the only way out”.

One protester was seen with a placard reading “one country, two systems is a lie”, referring to a political system put in place at Britain’s 1997 handover of the city to China, which is meant to guarantee Hong Kong’s freedoms until at least 2047.

“I’m scared … if you don’t come out today, you’ll never be able to come out. This is legislation that directly affects us,” said Ryan Tsang, a hotel manager.

As the protests in the financial district died down, hundreds of people gathered in the working-class Mong Kok district on the Kowloon peninsula, where protests flared repeatedly last year. Marchers there briefly blocked roads before being chased away by police.

About 300 people were arrested, most for illegal assembly, in three districts, police said.

In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Hong Kong Security Secretary John Lee said police had adopted new tactics to control situations as soon as “something happens”.

(Reporting by Sarah Wu, Scott Murdoch, Jessie Pang, Clare Jim, Pak Yiu, Joyce Zhou, Twinnie Siu, Donny Kwok; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree, Michael Perry and Robert Birsel, Marius Zaharia; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Stephen Coates & Simon Cameron-Moore)

Hong Kong police issue warning amid calls for new demonstrations

By Clare Jim and Noah Sin

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police issued a warning late on Tuesday that they would not tolerate disruptions to public order after activists circulated calls online for fresh demonstrations on Wednesday.

A new national security law proposed last week by Beijing has revived mass protests by demonstrators who say China aims to curb the freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong, a global financial center with broad autonomy.

Thousands of protesters clashed with police on Sunday in the first big demonstrations since a wave of violent protests last year. Financial markets have been alarmed by the prospect of a dramatic assertion of Chinese control over the city.

Calls were circulated on Tuesday on online forums for a general strike and protests on Wednesday against a national anthem law due for a second reading in the city’s Legislative Council. Such calls do not always result in protests. Police said gatherings must not disrupt traffic and warned of jail terms for those who cause illegal disturbances.

The anthem law would require schools to teach China’s national anthem, organizations to play it and sing it, and anyone who disrespects it to face jail or fines.

Protesters see it as a symbol of China’s encroachment on Hong Kong’s way of life, as manifest in the security law floated last week, which could pave the way for mainland security agencies to open up branches in Hong Kong.

“NO NEED TO WORRY”

Hong Kong authorities insist there is no threat to the city’s autonomy.

“There is no need for us to worry,” the city’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a weekly news conference. “In the last 23 years, whenever people worried about Hong Kong’s freedom of speech and freedom of expression and protest, time and again, Hong Kong has proven that we uphold and preserve those values.”

The United States has branded the security law a “death knell” for the city’s autonomy. Britain, which ruled Hong Kong until returning it to China in 1997, said it was deeply concerned by a law it said would undermine the “one country, two systems” principle under which Hong Kong is governed.

Hong Kong’s Bar Association said the draft had “worrying and problematic features”. According to the draft proposal last week, the legislation aims to tackle secession, subversion and terrorist activities.

On Sunday, police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of people who thronged the streets to protest against the proposed legislation. Almost 200 were arrested.

It was the first major protest since pro-democracy demonstrations rocked Hong Kong last year over an unsuccessful plan to introduce an extradition law with China, Hong Kong’s worst crisis since its return to Chinese rule.

More demonstrations are expected in the coming weeks as residents grow more confident about gathering with the coronavirus outbreak under control.

Investors’ concerns were clear in a sell-off on the Hong Kong bourse on Friday, though stocks regained some ground this week.

“Medium-to-long term it will still depend on U.S.-China relations and the political situation in Hong Kong,” said Steven Leung, executive director for institutional sales at brokerage UOB Kay Hian.

Beijing and city officials have toughened their rhetoric recently, describing some of the acts in last year’s protests as terrorism and attempts at secessionism.

While authorities scrapped the extradition bill that sparked that unrest, they dug in their heels against calls for universal suffrage, amnesty for arrested protesters, an independent inquiry into against police handling of the demonstrations and a request not to label the protests riots.

Opinion polls show only a minority of Hong Kong people support independence, which is anathema to Beijing.

(Reporting by Clare Jim, Noah Sin and Donny Kwok; Writing by Marius Zaharia and Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel, Peter Graff)

China’s new Hong Kong laws a ‘flagrant breach’ of agreement, foreign officials say

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly 200 political figures from around the world on Saturday decried Beijing’s proposed national security laws for Hong Kong, including 17 members of the U.S. Congress, as international tensions grow over the proposal to set up Chinese government intelligence bases in the territory.

In a joint statement organized by former Hong Kong Governor Christopher Patten and former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, 186 law and policy leaders said the proposed laws are a “comprehensive assault on the city’s autonomy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms” and “flagrant breach” of the Sino-British Joint Declaration that returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.

“If the international community cannot trust Beijing to keep its word when it comes to Hong Kong, people will be reluctant to take its word on other matters,” they wrote.

The legislation comes as the relationship between Washington and Beijing frays, with U.S. President Donald Trump blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. officials have said the Chinese legislation would be bad for the economies of both Hong Kong and China and could jeopardize the territory’s special status in U.S. law. China has dismissed other countries’ complaints as meddling.

Some of Trump’s fellow Republicans – Senator Marco Rubio, acting chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and Senator Ted Cruz – signed the statement. Democratic signatories included Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Representatives Eliot Engel, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.

Forty-four members of Britain’s House of Commons and eight members of its House of Lords also signed the statement, alongside figures from across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; writing by Lisa Lambert; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Thousands protest Chinese security law as unrest returns to Hong Kong

By James Pomfret and Jessie Pang

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of people who rallied on Sunday to protest against Beijing’s plan to impose national security laws on the city.

In a return of the unrest that roiled Hong Kong last year, crowds thronged the Causeway Bay shopping area in defiance of curbs imposed to contain the coronavirus. Chants of “Hong Kong independence, the only way out,” echoed through the streets.

To Communist Party leaders, calls for independence for the semi-autonmous city are anathema and the proposed new national security framework stresses Beijing’s intent “to prevent, stop and punish” such acts.

As dusk fell, police and demonstrators faced off in the nightlife district of Wan Chai.

The day’s events pose a new challenge to Beijing’s authority as it struggles to tame public opposition to its tightening grip over Hong Kong, a trade and business gateway for mainland China.

The security laws have also worried financial markets and drawn a rebuke from foreign governments, human rights groups and some business lobbies.

“I am worried that after the implementation of the national security law, they will go after those being charged before and the police will be further out of control,” said Twinnie, 16, a secondary school student who declined to give her last name.

“I am afraid of being arrested but I still need to come out and protest for the future of Hong Kong.”

The demonstrations come amid concerns over the fate of the “one country, two systems” formula that has governed Hong Kong since the former British colony’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. The arrangement guarantees the city broad freedoms not seen on the mainland, including a free press and independent judiciary.

Washington said on Sunday China’s proposed legislation could lead to U.S. sanctions.

“It looks like, with this national security law, they’re going to basically take over Hong Kong and if they do … Secretary (of State Mike) Pompeo will likely be unable to certify that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy and if that happens there will be sanctions that will be imposed on Hong Kong and China,” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told NBC television.

As the city government sought to give reassurances over the new laws, police conducted stop-and-search operations in Causeway Bay and warned people not to violate a ban on gatherings of more than eight.

That restriction, imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, has kept protesters largely off the streets in recent months.

Protesters set up roadblocks and hurled umbrellas, water bottles and other objects, police said, adding that they responded with tear gas and made more than 120 arrests.

Many shops and other businesses closed early.

The scenes evoked memories of last year’s sometimes violent anti-government protests, which drew up to two million people in the biggest single protest.

Anti-government protesters march against Beijing’s plans to impose national security legislation in Hong Kong, China May 24, 2020. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

“WE HAVE TO RESIST IT”

A small group of democracy activists protested outside Beijing’s main representative office in the city, chanting: “National security law is destroying two systems.”

“In the future, they can arrest, lock up and silence anyone they want in the name of national security. We have to resist it,” protester Avery Ng of the League for Social Democrats told Reuters.

Nearly 200 political figures from around the world said in a statement the proposed laws were a “comprehensive assault on the city’s autonomy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms”.

China has dismissed foreign complaints as “meddling,” and said the proposed laws will not harm Hong Kong’s autonomy or investors.

Beijing’s top diplomat said the proposed legislation would target a narrow category of acts and would have no impact on the city’s freedoms nor the interests of foreign firms.

Last year’s anti-government protests plunged Hong Kong into its biggest political crisis in decades, battered the economy, and posed the gravest popular challenge to President Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

(Reporting by James Pomfret, Jessie Pang, Donny Kwok, Twinnie Siu, Pak Yiu; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by John Stonestreet and Angus MacSwan)

Explainer: How ending Hong Kong’s ‘special status’ could affect U.S. companies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New Chinese national security restrictions imposed on Hong Kong could draw a U.S. revocation of the former British colony’s “special status” under U.S. law, a move that would have far-reaching trade and investment implications.

U.S. businesses oppose any change in Washington’s recognition of Hong Kong as a sufficiently autonomous city, where major U.S. companies enjoy access to China and Southeast Asia, and where bilateral trade flourishes across various parts of the economy, from wine to financial services.

A new U.S. law requires the State Department to certify at least annually that Hong Kong, which experienced widespread protests last year over China’s extradition plans, retains enough autonomy to justify favorable U.S. trading terms. President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that Washington could react “very strongly” to China’s new restrictions.

Here is a look at some of the consequences of a change in that status.

CORPORATE HEADACHES

A revocation of the special status would cause problems for the more than 1,300 American companies with business operations in Hong Kong, including nearly every major U.S. financial firm. The State Department said 85,000 U.S. citizens lived in Hong Kong in 2018.

Visa-free travel access to Hong Kong could revert to strict Chinese visa rules, impeding business travel and work visa approvals.

As of 2018, the stock of U.S. foreign direct investment in Hong Kong stood at $82.5 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion that year, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. Hong Kong’s investment in the United States rose $3.5 billion in 2018 to $16.9 billion.

Hong Kong’s autonomy, civil liberties, rule of law and access to China make it attractive to international companies, and a change in that status could push some U.S. firms into costly moves elsewhere in the region.

“Numerous American companies invest in Hong Kong because of its special status, its geographic location and market-based economic system,” the U.S.-China Business Council said in a statement. “Any change to this status quo would irreparably damage American global business interests.”

TRADE

Some $67 billion in annual Hong Kong-U.S. trade of goods and services could be put at risk as Hong Kong would lose its preferential lower U.S. tariff rate.

Hong Kong is treated separately from mainland China’s more managed economy, and its exports to the United States are treated differently. Hong Kong has a zero tariff rate on imports of U.S. goods, which also could be at risk.

Hong Kong was the source of the largest bilateral U.S. goods trade surplus last year, at $26.1 billion, based on U.S. Census Bureau data.

According to Hong Kong’s Trade and Industry Department, the former British colony in 2018 was the United States’ third-largest export market for wine, its fourth-largest for beef and seventh-largest for all agricultural products.

BROADER U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS

A U.S. revocation of Hong Kong’s special status would be viewed by Beijing as interfering with its sovereignty, and China has previously threatened to “take strong countermeasures.”

Eswar Prasad, a trade professor at Cornell University and a former head of the International Monetary Fund’s China department, said Hong Kong is a “hot-button” economic and political issue for China, much like U.S. sanctions on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

A precarious U.S.-China trade truce, already strained by Trump’s anger at China over the coronavirus pandemic and a slow start to Beijing’s purchases under the Phase 1 trade deal between the two countries could collapse into new tariffs and counter-sanctions, he said.

The United States also maintains export control offices and academic exchanges in Hong Kong separate from mainland China.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Paul Simao)

U.S. condemns China’s ‘disastrous proposal’ on Hong Kong: Pompeo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday called China’s proposed national security legislation on Hong Kong disastrous and said it could have an impact on the favorable economic treatment the territory receives from the United States.

“The United States condemns the … proposal to unilaterally and arbitrarily impose national security legislation on Hong Kong,” Pompeo said.

“The United States strongly urges Beijing to reconsider its disastrous proposal, abide by its international obligations, and respect Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, democratic institutions, and civil liberties, which are key to preserving its special status under U.S. law.”

Pompeo’s statement went further than Thursday’s State Department warning and underscored how rapidly the world has responded to Beijing’s plans after Hong Kong’s mass pro-democracy protests last year.

The “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act” approved by U.S. President Donald Trump last year requires the State Department to certify at least annually that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to justify favorable trading terms that have helped it maintain its position as a world financial center.

Robert O’Brien, Trump’s national security adviser, told Fox News on Thursday Washington has “lots of tools to express our displeasure.” Neither he nor Pompeo detailed actions Washington might take.

“There are privileges that Hong Kong accrues because it’s considered a free system. We’d have to look over whether those concessions could continue to be made,” he said.

“If China moves forward and takes strong action under this new national security law … America will respond, and I think other countries in the world will respond, including the United Kingdom and many other of our allies and friends.”

Former Vice President Joe Biden, Trump’s likely challenger in November’s election, on Friday assailed Trump for what he characterized as his silence on human rights issues. If the State Department decertifies the territory, it ultimately falls to Trump to decide which of Hong Kong’s privileges to deny.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert, Susan Heavey, Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Toby Chopra and Howard Goller)

China plans national security laws for Hong Kong after last year’s unrest

By James Pomfret and Clare Jim

HONG KONG (Reuters) – China will propose national security laws for Hong Kong in response to last year’s often violent pro-democracy protests that plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, state news agency Xinhua said.

The report confirmed what three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Xinhua said a preparatory meeting for a Chinese parliament session adopted an agenda that included an item to review a bill “on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security”.

The South China Morning Post newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the laws would ban secession, foreign interference, terrorism and all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and any external interference in the former British colony.

The legislation, which could be introduced as a motion to China’s parliament, could be a turning point for its freest and most international city, potentially triggering a revision of its special status in Washington and likely to spark more unrest.

Online posts have already emerged urging people to gather to protest on Thursday night and dozens were seen shouting pro-democracy slogans in a shopping mall as riot police stood nearby.

Hong Kong people took to the streets last year, sometimes in their millions, to protest a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions of criminal suspects to mainland China. The movement broadened to include demands for broader democracy amid perceptions that Beijing was tightening its grip over the city.

“If Beijing passes the law … how (far) will civil society resist repressive laws? How much impact will it unleash onto Hong Kong as an international financial centre?” said Ming Sing, political scientist at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

The Hong Kong dollar weakened on the news.

The technical details of the proposals remain unclear but an announcement will be made in Beijing later on Thursday, one senior Hong Kong government source said.

China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, is due to begin its annual session on Friday, after being delayed for months by the coronavirus.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on May 6 he was delaying the report assessing whether Hong Kong was sufficiently autonomous to warrant Washington’s special economic treatment that has helped it remain a world financial centre.

The delay was to account for any actions at the National People’s Congress, he said.

Tension between the two superpowers has heightened in recent weeks, as they exchanged accusations on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, souring an already worsening relationship over trade.

BYPASS MECHANISM

A previous attempt by Hong Kong to introduce national security legislation, known as Article 23, in 2003 was met with mass peaceful protests and shelved.

Hong Kong has a constitutional obligation to enact Article 23 “on its own”, but similar laws can be introduced by Beijing separately into an annex of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.

That legal mechanism could bypass the city’s legislature as the laws could be imposed by promulgation by Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing government.

“Some people are destroying Hong Kong’s peace and stability. Beijing saw all that has happened,” pro-establishment lawmaker Christopher Cheung, who is not part of discussions in Beijing, told Reuters.

“Legislation is necessary and the sooner the better.”

National security legislation has been strongly opposed by pro-democracy protesters who argue it could erode the city’s freedoms and high degree of autonomy, guaranteed under the “one country, two systems” formula put in place when it returned to Chinese rule.

A senior Western diplomat, who declined to be identified, said the imposition of such laws from China, without any local legislative process, would hurt international perceptions about the city and its economy.

Protesters denounce what they see as the creeping meddling in Hong Kong by China’s Communist Party rulers. Beijing denies the charge and blames the West, especially the United States and Britain, for stirring up trouble.

(Additional reporting by Greg Torode, Clare Jim, Sarah Wu and Jessie Pang; writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie)