China wants to pass laws that can prevent and punish subversion “or any acts that severely endanger national security”
A proposal to enact new Hong Kong security legislation was submitted to China’s rubber-stamp parliament on Friday, a move expected to fan fresh protests in the semi-autonomous city. The proposal, which has been condemned by the United States and Hong Kong pro-democracy figures as an assault on the city’s freedoms, was tabled on the opening day of the National People’s Congress. China will establish a “sound” legal system and enforcement mechanisms to ensure national security in Hong Kong and Macau, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday in his annual report to parliament.
According to the legislation, China’s parliament empowers itself to set up the legal framework and implementation mechanism to prevent and punish subversion, terrorism, separatism and foreign interference, “or any acts that severely endanger national security”.
Hong Kong activists have called for a march today against China’s plans. A previous attempt to adopt similar legislation in 2003 was met with a protest that drew around half a million people onto the streets and was eventually shelved. Local pro-democracy lawmakers denounced the plans on Thursday night as “the end of Hong Kong”. The measures were tabled alongside a raft of policy announcements from Beijing about spending plans, the economy and its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Li told the NPC that China had made “major strategic achievements” in its response to the outbreak. “At present, the epidemic has not yet come to an end, while the tasks we face in promoting development are immense,” he told thousands of delegate. It comes after Donald Trump, the US President, on Thursday accused Chinese president Xi Jinping of a campaign of “disinformation” that has helped spread Covid-19 around the world. China will severely punish the illegal hunting and trading of wild animals, it said in its government work report issued on Friday, as it tries to implement a ban imposed in January as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic has been blamed on a seafood market in Wuhan that is believed to have sold wild animals such as bats and pangolins, and China has promised new legislation to make the ban permanent. Mr Li also announced that China has set a budget deficit target for this year of “at least” 3.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), compared with the 2.8 per cent target set for 2019. Mr Li, who also said that defence spending will rise 6.6 per cent this year, refrained from setting a 2020 GDP growth target and pledged to step up spending and financing to support China’s economy. It marked the first time that China did not set a gross domestic product (GDP) goal since 1990 when the government started to publish such targets. The Chinese economy contracted 6.8 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, shrinking for the first time in decades, as the outbreak of the coronavirus paralysed production and hit spending. China will also encourage the people of Chinese-claimed Taiwan to join it in opposing Taiwan independence and in promoting China’s “reunification”, Mr Li Keqiang said. Taiwan’s government urged China on Friday not to lead Hong Kong into “bigger turmoil” due to wrong policy decisions. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement that China’s Communist Party has wrongly blamed external influences and Hong Kong independence “separatists” for the instability in the territory. Nick Note: This is SERIOUS and could lead to a wider confrontation between the US and China. In essence China is violating the 2 state (that shit never works) solution and imposing its will on Hong Kong. The Taiwanese should be shitting bricks!