As previously mentioned, this week China finally moved ahead with the implementation of a new security law concerning Hong Kong, after it first announced the controversial bill over a month ago.
The government of China took the time since then to prepare the full legislation and was finally able to put it in action this week, despite strong opposition from western countries. Immediately after submitting the legislation, the Chinese authorities started making arrests in Hong Kong.
According to this new law, actions such as protesting against the Chinese government or its decisions, or talking about Hong Kong’s independence are now illegal. The Hong Kong police, which effectively serves China, has started putting up signs explaining that what protesters are currently doing is illegal, essentially warning them that if they do not go home, they could be detained.
Today it became known that one of the protests’ loudest voices, Nathan Law, has left Hong Kong in order to avoid persecution because he had spoken about the situation with the United States earlier, which is now also illegal.
Thanks to Law, the US Congress moved ahead with the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, a new bill that aims to punish China for interfering with Hong Kong’s autonomy, which was supposed to be guaranteed at least until 2047 based on an agreement between the UK and China.
China claims that the law was passed in order to deal with the pro-democracy protests that began in 2019, and so far it seems it has achieved this goal. Fewer people are protesting, and stores and other businesses are no longer showing signs of support for the protests out of fear that they will be shut down.
Moreover, China has already established a new security agency that will be in charge of handling Hong Kong matters, with some high-ranking Communist Party staff. Many fear that what China markets as a way to deal with the protests in an orderly mannerly is in fact a tool to suppress pro-independence views in Hong Kong and persecute any opposition to China.
