China said it would set in motion a process to unilaterally apply national-security laws to Hong Kong, raising the stakes in its showdown with democracy activists whose protests rocked the city last year.
A spokesman for China's legislature, Zhang Yesui, said Thursday that lawmakers will deliberate a draft resolution to allow the National People's Congress to chart legislation aimed at stopping secessionist and subversive activity, foreign interference and terrorism in the city.
The surprise move is likely to send shock waves through a city in the throes of an antigovernment movement and a decimated economy.
Hong Kong had been consumed by antigovernment unrest since last summer, which has largely targeted Beijing's encroachment on the city's self-governance.
Protesters have chanted slogans and waved banners denouncing the Communist Party, drawing angry rebukes from Beijing, while a small but growing faction have started calling for independence for the city.
Beijing has signaled an urgent desire for national-security legislation in Hong Kong since late last year, when the Communist Party's governing Central Committee approved plans to upgrade the city's legal mechanisms for safeguarding national security.
Under Hong Kong's Basic Law, its mini-constitution, the city was meant to enact its own laws to protect national security.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-legislature-to-consider-draft-bill-on-establishing-framework-for-national-security-law-in-hong-kong-11590068208?mod=hp_lead_pos4
A spokesman for China's legislature, Zhang Yesui, said Thursday that lawmakers will deliberate a draft resolution to allow the National People's Congress to chart legislation aimed at stopping secessionist and subversive activity, foreign interference and terrorism in the city.
The surprise move is likely to send shock waves through a city in the throes of an antigovernment movement and a decimated economy.
Hong Kong had been consumed by antigovernment unrest since last summer, which has largely targeted Beijing's encroachment on the city's self-governance.
Protesters have chanted slogans and waved banners denouncing the Communist Party, drawing angry rebukes from Beijing, while a small but growing faction have started calling for independence for the city.
Beijing has signaled an urgent desire for national-security legislation in Hong Kong since late last year, when the Communist Party's governing Central Committee approved plans to upgrade the city's legal mechanisms for safeguarding national security.
Under Hong Kong's Basic Law, its mini-constitution, the city was meant to enact its own laws to protect national security.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-legislature-to-consider-draft-bill-on-establishing-framework-for-national-security-law-in-hong-kong-11590068208?mod=hp_lead_pos4
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