Global Politics

2021 marks 24 years since Britain handed Hong Kong back to China. Hong Kong, once a British colony, was handed back to China in 1997.

 

According to the BBC, " China agreed to govern Hong Kong under the principle of "one country, two systems", where the city would enjoy "a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defense affairs" for 50 years. As a result, Hong Kong has its own legal system, and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech are protected."

 

But in the years since Hong Kong was handed back to China, the city, according to Aljazeera “has undergone a transformation. In recent years, Beijing has intensified the silencing of political dissent and the squeezing of media freedom – through new laws drawn up in the name of security, the jailing of critics, and the reigning in of adversarial journalism.”

 

In the last two years alone, more than 10,000 protesters have been arrested and dozens of dissidents have been jailed.

 

As the Council on Foreign Relations explains,  “Beijing took its most assertive action yet on June 30, 2020, when it bypassed the Hong Kong legislature and imposed a new national security law on the city. The legislation effectively criminalizes any dissent, and adopts extremely broad definitions for crimes such as terrorism, subversion, secession, and collusion with foreign powers.”

 

Here is how Amnesty International describes the National Security Law (NSL) and its impacts:

 

This sweeping definition of “national security”, which follows that of the Chinese central authorities, lacks clarity and legal predictability and has been used arbitrarily as a pretext to restrict the human rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association and liberty, as well as to repress dissent and political opposition.

 

The NSL’s arbitrary application and imprecise criminal definitions effectively make it impossible to know how and when it might be deemed as violated, resulting in an instant chilling effect across Hong Kong from day one.

 

Between 1 July 2020 and 29 June 2021, police arrested or ordered the arrest of at least 118 people in relation to the NSL. As of 29 June 2021, 64 people have been formally charged, of whom 47 are presently in pretrial detention.