Briefing: Developments in Hong Kong under the National Security Law
This briefing describes developments in Hong Kong since the National Security Law was enacted on 1 July 2020. The law is a watershed moment in the city, and we have already seen a discernible decline in the city’s safeguards for fundamental rights and freedoms in the six weeks since the legislation was enacted.
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Executive summary
This briefing document details how the law has been applied in the 6 weeks since its initial enactment.
Arrests
Since coming into force, the National Security Law has already been used to suppress freedom of expression and assembly both on the streets of Hong Kong and online.
Individuals in Hong Kong have been arrested for the simple act of posting a statement online or holding a blank piece of paper in a shopping mall in the last few weeks. This demonstrates the arbitrary and repressive nature of this new law and its clear intent to silence dissent.
By releasing a ‘wanted list’ of six Hong Kongers abroad who it considers have violated the new law, the Hong Kong Government and the Chinese Communist Party have demonstrated the law’s worrying claim to overseas jurisdiction, its retrospective nature, and its ability to target foreign nationals
The arrests of Jimmy Lai and senior Apple Daily leadership represents a major blow to freedom of the press.
New security directives
Not content with the introduction of the vague and draconian National Security Law, the Hong Kong Chief Executive and Beijing officials have moved quickly to announce national security directives without consultation of the Legislative Council or the courts.
They have justified this with reference to the new law’s supremacy over the human rights safeguards in the Basic Law.
Democracy under siege
The Hong Kong Government and Beijing’s representatives in Hong Kong have already used the threat of the National Security Law to quash dissent and undermine democracy by disqualifying pro-democracy candidates, smear primaries which saw over 600,000 Hong Kongers vote as illegitimate and in violation of the law, and use COVID as cover to delay the Legislative Council elections and buy more time to marginalise and silence pro-democracy activists.
Teachers and students in the crosshairs
The law represents a watershed moment for academic freedom. We have seen the introduction of national security education, new guidelines censoring any expression that could be considered in classrooms and encouraging students and teachers to monitor each other, and the firing of pro-democracy academics. The trends ensure the National Security Law will have an adverse chilling effect on the education sector in Hong Kong.
Targeting the press
Since the National Security Law has come into force, a growing number of foreign news agencies are reconsidering their future in Hong Kong, particularly as work visas for foreign journalists are being weaponised by the Chinese Government in its international disputes with Western countries.
The New York Times is the first media organisation to announce that it will begin relocating its staff from Hong Kong to Seoul. There is an expectation that they will not be the last.
Local pro-democracy outlets are coming under increasing pressure, symbolised most obviously through the arrest of Jimmy Lai and senior Apple Daily executives.
Big tech and the stand-off over the National Security Law
Technology companies are currently in a stand-off with the Hong Kong and Chinese Government regarding cooperation with law enforcement officials under the National Security Law. There are increased concerns that China’s ‘Great Firewall’ could be extended to Hong Kong, in a similar way that internet censorship has increasingly been introduced to neighbouring Macau.
Recommendations to the international community
Since the National Security Law came into force, there has been a range of activities from the international community. However, there remain many concrete actions likeminded partners can take to stand up for Hong Kong, including:
ensuring every Hong Konger who needs one has access to a lifeline to study and work abroad as a pathway to citizenship;
campaigning for the suspension of all extradition treaties with Hong Kong and mainland China to ensure no individual will be extradited under this draconian law;
endorsing the creation of a UN Special Envoy/Rapporteur for Hong Kong to monitor and report on the situation on the ground;
and introducing targeted Magnitsky style sanctions on the perpetrators of human rights abuses under this new law.