The first arrests under the new National Security Law on Hong Kong commenced less than ten hours after it was signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The police immediately used pepper spray. They lobbed tear gas at peaceful protesters and they aimed water cannons at journalists covering the protests in Hong Kong. Several reporters were injured. The new draconian law, which curtails freedom of speech and assembly among other things, caught a 15-year old girl in its net simply for waving a flag calling for Hong Kong’s independence. It was only 90 minutes after the law was signed that she lost her right to free speech. That high school student is just one of the countless young people who could face life imprisonment. Many of the other 370 plus arrested on the first day also face horrific punishments. Beijing effectively is denuding Hong Kong of any opposition forces to its harsh rule without concern about what its citizens or other nation-states think.
The faces of the arrested are young, hopeful, and filled with a determination to stand up to repression by the Chinese Communist Party leadership in Beijing. One student dared to wear a simple white tee shirt embossed with the words “The FUTURE is so unpredictable.” She was detained like the hundreds of others who tried to run from police. Carrie Lam, nominal head of Hong Kong, held a press conference just 14 hours after the new law went into force. She stood boldly before the media and declared that the law “has perfected” the “one country, two systems” concept, and announced that a national security department already had been established inside the Hong Kong Police Department. This was well-planned in advance and is part of a longer-term strategy by Beijing. Is Taiwan next? Will the US step into the fray? No one knows the answer.
The new security law criminalizes individuals for acts it loosely labels as terrorism, collusion with foreigners, subversion, or secession. But it doesn’t stop there. The law decrees that any person, from any country, who commits an offense under the act can be imprisoned. A non-citizen outside China still is subject to it, according to the State Council in Beijing. Using this standard a foreign traveler transiting an international airport in Hong Kong, on his way to another country, could be taken prisoner and subjected to a life sentence for negative comments on his Twitter account concerning Hong Kong.
The excuse used by Beijing is that Hong Kong needs increased “public safety.” Article 48 of the law declares that Beijing can collect intelligence, coordinate with local authorities, and handle national security cases. It effectively ends Hong Kong’s autonomy. Already residents of Hong Kong are deactivating their social media accounts and quietly retreating. Organizations are removing their anti-government signs. Zero tolerance for dissent appears to be within Xi Jinping’s grasp.
Great Britain offered unlimited help to those with a British National (overseas) passport. The UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, told Parliament this week that the country is promising a path to citizenship for all of the “BN” passport holders to resettle in Great Britain. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared the law a “clear and serious” breach of rights. Taiwan opened an office to help those fleeing Hong Kong, too. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo issued a statement calling it a “sad day for Hong Kong, and for freedom-loving people across China.” Over two dozen nation-states already have signed a document decrying the legislation and labeling it “interference” by Beijing.
Their efforts in fact are put into a position of trust, are just as capable of violence and a lack of humanity as the mob bosses and their henchmen. sildenafil viagra de pfizer So, go online and order your pack now! Erectile dysfunction- sexual levitra soft tabs failure of keeping or attaining healthy erections for pleasurable sexual intercourse. The blood cialis professional cipla supply into the erection containers made of spongy tissue fill upward with bloodstream when actually or mentally stimulated. To know more about sildenafil or other tadalafil tablets india phosphodiesterase inhibitors should not intake Kamagra Fizz.Zhang Xiaoming, deputy chief of Beijing’s State Council Office on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, wore a bright red tie during his meeting with the press last Wednesday. No one knows better how to govern Hong Kong than the central government, he said. According to Zhang, Beijing is taking a hard line approach and that it’s a “turning point.” He deemed the law, which was not released for consultation prior to enactment, a case of “special circumstance.” In a dramatic statement before the media he declared that “Its power overrides the autonomy of the Hong Kong SAR…[and] this is reasonable and legitimate.”
In response to the measure Secretary Pompeo announced the United States will cease all exports of defense equipment and dual-use technology to Hong Kong. Washington will no longer offer Hong Kong special treatment when compared to the mainland. In Beijing, as one CCP official quipped, it is a very sharp sword hanging over a minority of people. This is a dark period for the people of Hong Kong. Hopefully, it at least serves as an enlightening one for those who believed the misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda put out by the Chinese Communist Party.
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.
Illustration: Pixabay