Beijing needs to “step back from the brink” and reconsider imposing a national security law on Hong Kong, British foreign secretary Dominic Raab said in a June 11 statement, while renewing a pledge to protect Hong Kong’s freedoms.
The territory has experienced its largest demonstrations over the past year, with at times millions of locals taking to the streets to resist Beijing’s growing encroachment into the city’s autonomy.
If the Chinese regime moves forward with its plans, the UK will make arrangements allowing British overseas passport holders a pathway to citizenship, Raab said. Currently, around 350,000 Hongkongers born before 1997 hold such passports, while another 2.5 million are eligible to apply for one, according to the British government.
Heightening Pressure
Despite international pushback and a vow from the United States to revoke Hong Kong’s special trading status, the Chinese government has quickened steps to press ahead with imposing the law.On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry issued a “fact sheet” claiming that the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the bilateral agreement signed ahead of Hong Kong’s sovereignty transfer, was “not relevant” with China’s handling of Hong Kong. It further claimed that the UK has “no sovereignty rights, rights of governance, and power of supervision” over Hong Kong affairs.
Zhang Xiaoming, vice director of Beijing’s representative agency in Hong Kong, the Liaison Office, said that central authorities will ensure the law’s implementation in the city “no matter what happens in Hong Kong nor what outside forces say or do.” Deeming Hong Kong’s challenge a “political problem,” he called the national security law an “anti-virus software” to ensure the city’s stability.
While the regime has yet to reveal details of the new law, critics have expressed fears of Chinese law enforcement working directly in the city and rising political prosecution. Hong Kong’s security chief John Lee recently said the local government would set up a dedicated police unit to work with mainland security forces and apply the law.
Widening Intelligence Net
Fueling concerns of extralegal arrests after the law’s implementation, a source told The Epoch Times that authorities have evacuated a detention center in the mainland city of Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong, in order to house those arrested from the territory. The person, who works at the Yantian facility, requested to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.Located on the southern tip of China, the detention center is within walking distance from Sha Tau Kok, the northernmost district of Hong Kong.