Hong Kong’s Legislative Council unanimously handed a brand new nationwide safety legislation that expands the federal government’s energy to crush dissent.
The Safeguarding Nationwide Safety Regulation handed on Tuesday contains new measures on treason, espionage, exterior interference, state secrets and techniques and sedition.
“At this time is a historic second for Hong Kong,” mentioned Hong Kong Chief Govt John Lee, who added that the legislation punishing 5 main crimes would go into impact on March 23.
It grants the federal government extra energy to quash dissent, broadly seen as the most recent step in a sweeping political crackdown that was triggered by pro-democracy protests in 2019. It comes on high of an identical legislation imposed by Beijing 4 years in the past, which has already largely silenced opposition voices within the monetary hub.
Critics say that the most important piece of laws, referred to as Article 23, additional threatens the China-ruled metropolis’s freedoms.
The 90-seat council stacked with pro-China loyalists was first introduced with the invoice on March 8, following a month-long public session, with Hong Kong’s chief calling for it to be enacted at “full pace”.
All 88 lawmakers and the legislative council president voted unanimously to enact the laws.
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