China Flexes its Legal Muscles in Hong Kong, Potentially Ending its Unique Status

With the world distracted by COVID-19, China has been advancing its regional ambitions through a series of aggressive actions across Asia in recent weeks. The moves were capped on May 21 when China stripped away a layer of Hong Kong’s autonomy by announcing a new national-security legislation which would make it a crime to undermine Beijing’s authority in the territory – potentially ending Hong Kong's unique status. Beijing is now facing mounting worldwide condemnation and a wave of anti-mainland protests. WHAT IS IN THE NATIONAL SECURITY LEGISLATION? The National People’s Congress gave the new security law which was drafted in secret the green light last week and it is due to be enacted before September. Full details about exactly what behaviour will be outlawed are not yet clear as it is yet to be drafted, but it is expected to criminalise secession (breaking away from China), subversion (undermining the power or authority of the central government), terrorism (using violence or intimidation against people) and foreign interference (activities by foreign forces that interfere in Hong Kong). Experts say that China’s the latest provocative move undermines the city's freedoms by giving Beijing a new tool with which to crack down on protesters and dissidents and push forward education that trumpets the successes of the Communist Party - as happens in mainland China. For example, China jailed Nobel Laureate Liu for 11 years for subversion after he co-authored a document calling for political reform.  Beijing has also frequently referred to Hong Kong's sometimes violent pro-democracy protests as the work of "terrorists." Moreover, the new law could also see China installing its own security and intelligence agencies on Hong Kong’s soil for the first time. Hong Kong currently has its own police force and an independent judicial system. China's People's Liberation Army keeps a garrison in Hong Kong, but it must abide by Hong Kong's laws. That could all change if the new national security law is enacted. The erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy will likely hurt the business and financial community, as well as damage educational and social systems and the media. There will be an especially heavy toll on younger generations for economic and political reasons.  Prodemocracy lawmakers, diplomats, and many of the city’s 7.4 million residents were stunned when the new legislation was approved and are left questioning Hong Kong’s future. CORONAVIRUS: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AGGRESSIVE DIPLOMACY This is the most flagrant violation of Hong Kong's treasured autonomy guaranteed by the 1997 "one country, two systems" Sino-British Joint Declaration under which it was returned to China from the UK. Article 18 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law – the territory’s de facto mini-constitution that came into effect after the British handover– specifically limited Beijing from applying national laws to the territory, except in matters of defence and foreign affairs. But as China’s economic and military might grew, so did fear that Hong Kong’s significant autonomy could erode. The years since 1997 have been marked by sniping attacks on Hong Kong’s legal system, chipping away at what Hong Kongers see as the territory’s core value: the rule of law. Its independent judges have been termed “administrators” who must toe the party line. Retiring judges have spoken of the impending demise of the rule of law. The NPC decision accelerates all that. It not only authorises the standing committee to draft such a law, it allows the law to be inserted into Hong Kong’s Basic Law by decree. In recent years, Hong Kong has seen many protests to push back on what many people see as China’s interference in their autonomous affairs. The Umbrella Movement in 2014 brought parts of the city to a standstill for months as thousands of Hong Kongers demanded more free elections. Huge protests were revived again last year after proposed changes to an extradition law, which could potentially have seen people wanted for crimes transported to mainland China for trial. The massed ranks of para-military police, equipped with tear gas, pepper spray, water cannons and rubber bullets, openly fought protesters on the streets. Though China has failed to pass this law through its allies in Hong Kong, it is feared that this new legislation is an attempt to bring this sort of action under the thumb. Beijing maintains the inability of the Hong Kong government to deal with months of often-violent pro-democracy protests means that Beijing must step in. Chinese authorities view the protests in Hong Kong as a direct threat to the CCP’s autocratic system and they portray the protests as a foreign-backed plot to destabilise the motherland. The CCP appears to have calculated that unless it halts protests by the increasingly dissatisfied Hong Kong population, local affairs will get out of hand.  Moreover, Hong Kong’s democratic electoral government has continued to progress despite Beijing’s manoeuvres. Minority democratic politicians in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council have stalemated pro-government legislation. And in light of their overwhelming victory in district elections last November, Democratic candidates could win a majority in September’s Legislative Council elections. The timing of the move is noteworthy. Beijing is using the coronavirus pandemic to advance its regional ambitions, not only because the world is distracted, but also because the arrival of COVID-19 has given China and the Hong Kong government some relief from the protests. Now that social distancing is diminishing, fears of renewed rallies against them are growing. Beijing has used this opportunity to undertake aggressive actions elsewhere in Asia, too.  Chinese maritime surveillance vessel rammed a Vietnamese fishing boat near islands in the disputed South China Sea, sinking it. Off the coast of Malaysia, in the country’s exclusive economic zone, a Chinese survey vessel in the South China Sea, accompanied by coast-guard and fishing ships—likely part of China’s maritime militia, civilian vessels marshalled by Beijing in times of need—began survey work near a Malaysian oil rig. Three American warships and an Australian frigate conducted a joint exercise near the site of Petronas’ operations amid the standoff last month. Beijing then announced the establishment of two new administrative structures on islands in the South China Sea that are also claimed by Vietnam. The idea behind the new districts is to make administrative control in the area more effective, which can facilitate the building of additional infrastructure and enhance China’s military presence in the area. US RESPONDS TO CHINA WITH RESTRAINT The US Congress responded to last year’s events by passing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. That law requires the US secretary of state to certify every year that Hong Kong remains autonomous, which is a precondition for the US to continue its preferential economic relationship with Hong Kong. In response to the CCP’s latest move, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress claimed the NPC’s decision means Hong Kong is no longer politically autonomous from the mainland. Pompeo’s certification gave the president and secretary of state the ability to impose consequences including targeted sanctions, new tariffs and further restrictions on Chinese companies. Trump said sanctions would be imposed on Chinese and Hong Kong officials who were believed by Washington to be involved in eroding the territory's autonomy but did not outline what form these sanctions would take. The State Department, he added, would revise its travel advisory for Hong Kong in light of "increased danger of surveillance" from China. The president also said the US would suspend the entry of foreign nationals from China identified by the US as potential security risks which could affect thousands of graduate students. These moves will harm Hong Kong's special trading status with the US. While how much of its special status will be lost and how quickly any changes will take effect remains to be seen, the territory now appears to be on the cusp of having its status in the world change more fundamentally than it did with the handover from Britain in 1997. Experts warn that ending the special trading relationship that has existed for decades would carry costs for the more than 1,300 U.S. firms that have offices in Hong Kong and provide about 100,000 jobs, and would rattle an already fragile global economy while threatening Hong Kong’s standing as an international financial hub. While Removing Hong Kong's special privileges sends a strong warning signal to China and adds a new edge to the deteriorating US-China relations, Trump stopped short of fully escalating relations between the two nations. Financial markets saw Trump’s announcement as more bark than bite and U.S. stocks finished mostly higher as it was seen as less threatening to the U.S. economy than investors had feared. Thus, many observers have wondered if the U.S. might end up hurting the very people they were trying to help far more than China, while inadvertently accelerating Hong Kong’s loss of autonomy. Throughout the protests in Hong Kong last year, the US was consistent in its support of people's right to take to the streets and have their voice heard. Their support was gladly accepted in Hong Kong, where some protesters last year took to flying the US flag and calling for Trump himself to intervene as they lobbied for the passage of a bill in support of the city's political freedoms. But Experts say that the ability of Washington to influence Beijing's position on Hong Kong – which was already severely limited - has been hurt even more by the Trump administration's reaction to widespread unrest and public anger at home in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis. This has created an awkward situation for the U.S. Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry, tweeted "I can't breathe" -- among the final words uttered by Floyd before he died -- along with a statement by the US State Department on Hong Kong. Hua, one of a new breed of increasingly vociferous Chinese diplomats, also shared an article by RT, the Russian state-run broadcaster, accusing the US of hypocrisy for its reaction to the respective protests. Then, Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, accused the U.S. of "double standards" in its response to violent protests and new national security laws planned for the territory, and warned that Washington's plan to sanction the city would only damage its own interests.