China forcefully passes new Hong Kong national security law

The Chinese government forcefully passed Hong Kong national security law, which allows punishment for anti-china and pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, despite the warning of the U.S. Full-scale conflicts between the U.S. and China have become reality as the U.S. forewarned sanctions on China, saying that Hong Kong does not have a high degree of autonomy.

The National People's Congress of China passed the draft bill of the “legal system and enforcement mechanism to protect national security in Hong Kong” with a lopsided 99.7 percent approval rate at the closing ceremony on Thursday afternoon. Among 2,885 representatives of the congress who voted, 2,878 approved the bill. Those who opposed and abstained from voting were one and six, respectively.

The main content of the bill consisting of seven clauses is to prohibit and punish national division, government overthrow, terror, and foreign and external forces’ intervention with Hong Kong issues. The democratic opposition parties of the U.S. and Hong Kong have strongly opposed the bill on the grounds that it will drastically reduce political freedom in Hong Kong.

“I certified to Congress today that Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Wednesday (local time). He condemned the national security law as “a disastrous decision (…) that fundamentally undermines Hong Kong’s autonomy and freedoms.” His statement is the first of measures to be taken by the U.S., such as revoking the special status of Hong Kong, to address China’s forceful passage of the national security law.


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