Ritik Gupta
While the whole world is busy confronting coronavirus, china’s acts seem very much different. In the last week of June, China proposed a new security law for Hong Kong and ironically the bill, in no time, got the assent in an undivided manner. For the record, even Hong Kong’s Chief executive had not seen drafts until the law’s publication on 30th June 2020. The Bill intended to criminalise the following: Secession (articles 20-21), Terrorism (articles 24-28), Subversion (articles 22-23) and Collusion with “foreign forces” (articles 29-30). These are just exemplary starters of the wrongfulness of the new security bill as there are much more inhumane provisions in the same including the establishment of Specialized Secret Security Agencies (article 48), anyone convicted of crimes under the law will be deprived of the right to run for public office for life (article 35), mainland Chinese prosecutors and judges can investigate and bring to trial suspects in political crimes, who are subjected to mainland criminal law (articles 55-57) and many more such as these. It gives the right to hold on or prosecute even the non-residents of Hong Kong (article 38) when entered in mainland China or Hong Kong. It sought to mitigate the human rights’ of the people of Hong Kong and to form somewhat a state of anarchism upon it. As a result, citizens of Hong Kong got on the roads with the only intention – to protest against the pro-government laws. Not only citizens but many prominent activists decided to protest, and many of them resigned from the governmental or sanctioned organisations too.
If truth be told, the bill was a counteraction for the previous year’s protests and an attempt of China to augment its hegemony over Hong Kong. A provocative provision of the law is that now the central administration in Beijing can intervene in national security cases which as a consequence would decentralise Hong Kong’s supremacy. This is the reason the new security law seems an influential tool for Beijing to suppress Hong Kong people’s fundamental freedoms.
The bill stands with an out-and-out motive of to construct tyranny upon Hong Kong as it clearly states within itself: creating specialized secret security agencies, denying fair trial rights, providing sweeping new powers to the police, increasing restraints on civil society and the media, and weakening judicial oversight. Shockingly, the new National Security Law takes the place of all Hong Kong local laws which is a sign of building up autocracy. And it is not yet clarified by the Hong Kong government whether the new law also supersedes the Basis law – this qualm was asked by the Hong Kong bar association. Therefore, independence of judiciary, being in danger, is the biggest corollary of the security law. In fact, the law applies to not only China or Hong Kong but to other countries – if any person pioneers to slander or violate any of the governments and the security law respectively then he/she can be arrested for the respective violated provisions but only if their government allows to extradite them to Hong Kong. Not to forget, seeing these provisions of the law many countries have condemned it in such a means that they have released sanctions against China’s good. For instance, the United States of America released the USA measure which penalises banks which do business with Chinese officials and was as well passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate.
Ultimately, the new law objectifies China’s profound inhumane intent in regard to Hong Kong. It not only scraps down the democratic rights bestowed on the Hong Kong citizens since the end of British rule in 1997 but also the inherent human rights which are unconditional to exercise.
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