The US and British governments on Tuesday criticised Hong Kong for its passage of a new domestic national security law, claiming the measure was rushed and that vague language in its provisions created uncertainty for some of the city’s residents.
While they stopped short of announcing any immediate countermeasures, the US State Department said it was “analysing” the law to understand what risks were involved for American citizens and Britain suggested it might put diplomats on shaky ground.
Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously passed Hong Kong’s domestic national security law just hours earlier, at the end of a marathon session, in which they fast-tracked the constitutionally mandated legislation.
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The bill had been shelved for more than two decades because of initial public opposition.
The new Safeguarding National Security Ordinance covers 39 offences divided into five categories: treason; insurrection, incitement to mutiny and disaffection and acts with seditious intention; sabotage; external interference; and theft of state secrets and espionage.
“We think that this was fast-tracked through the non-democratically elected legislative council after a truncated public comment period,” US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said on Tuesday.
“They use phrases such as ‘external interference’, which is incredibly vague,” he said. “We’re analysing this legislation and we are taking a look at what the potential risk could be to not just US citizens but other American interests that we might have.”
Authorities in Hong Kong took only 50 days from the launch of public consultation on the bill to passage.
Why is Hong Kong going full speed with its Article 23 security legislation?
This included 10 hours to complete the second and third readings on Tuesday by a legislature stripped of any opposition under a new system allowing only those deemed “patriots” to occupy public office.
London’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron also accused Hong Kong’s lawmakers of using language that is difficult to interpret.
“The broad definitions of national security and external interference will make it harder for those who live, work and do business in Hong Kong,” he said in an official statement.
“The law fails to provide certainty for international organisations, including diplomatic missions, who are operating there,” Cameron added.
“It will entrench the culture of self-censorship which now dominates Hong Kong’s social and political landscape, and enable the continuing erosion of freedoms of speech, of assembly and of the media.”
Beijing slams US politicians over ‘botched’ stance on Hong Kong’s Article 23 law
Several American bills targeting Hong Kong, including one that would close the city government’s three representative offices in the US, are pending in Congress as the new law goes into effect this weekend.
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act would require the White House to “remove the extension of certain privileges, exemptions and immunities” to the offices – in Washington, New York and San Francisco – if it decides that Hong Kong no longer enjoys a high degree of autonomy from Beijing.
Sponsored by senators Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, and Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, the bill was approved last year by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A similar bill in the House of Representatives sailed through committee several months later. Both have yet to go to floor votes in their respective chambers.
Another such bill seeks to impose sanctions on nearly 50 city officials and judges, including Paul Lam Ting-kwok, the justice secretary.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who has slammed the US legislation as a violation of the country’s own constitutional principles, was sanctioned by the State Department in 2020 after Beijing imposed its national security law on the city in 2020.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Business groups in Hong Kong say emphasis should now shift from security to rebuilding economy after Article 23 law gets on the statute books
- What are some of the key legal flashpoints under Hong Kong’s Article 23 law? The Post has answers
- Hong Kong bureau of Washington-funded Radio Free Asia may quit city as domestic national security legislation expected to come into force
- US ambassador to China makes rare 2-day visit to Hong Kong amid efforts by city’s lawmakers to fast-track Article 23 bill
- Hong Kong justice minister Paul Lam defends impartiality of courts in national security cases and warns of continued threats to judicial independence from overseas
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