The National People's Congress, acc. to HK01, will announce the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law in a press conference tonight in order to stop up national security loopholes in HK (which means that freedoms of press, speech, association and assembly may further be curtailed, and most dissidents would be put in jail). HK0l claims that it will be attached to the HK Basic Law as part of Appendix III, and it will become a disguised form of enactment of Article 23 (National Security Law) of the Basic Law, without having to go through the legislation process in the Hong Kong Legislative Council first. [Note that U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo has recently warned China against enacting Article 23 in Hong Kong.]
The National People's Congress's meeting will be held in Beijing tomorrow morning, and tonight there will be a preliminary meeting, where the Congress's spokesperson will speak at their press conference.
The Basic Law is neither by the people of HK, nor for the people of HK, nor of the people of HK. Based on Article 158, it is subject to the interpretation of Beijing.
Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that the Hong Kong government shall enact laws on its own to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the central government. Its legislation failed in 2003 following mass protests.
Acc. to Article 18 of the Basic Law, "National laws shall not be applied in HKSAR for those listed in Annex III to this Law...The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress may add to or delete from the list of laws in Annex III after consulting its Committee for the Basic Law of HKSAR and the government of the Region. Laws listed in Annex III to this Law shall be confined to those relating to defence and foreign affairs as well as other matters outside the limits of the autonomy of the Region as specified by this Law."
Pic credit: RTHK
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