Beijing described the protests as a plot by foreign powers to destabilize mainland China.
Hong Kong:
Radical national security law soon to be imposed on Hong Kong will be “like installing anti-virus software,” a senior Beijing official said on Monday in a speech warning that Democratic protesters had gone “too far”.
Comments by Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Bureau, were the most detailed of a senior party official since Beijing announced last month its intention to outlaw subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference.
His remarks arrived a day before the hectic city marked a year before huge and often violent protests broke out, raging for seven consecutive months in the most direct challenge to Beijing’s domination since the city’s transfer in 1997 .
“Once in effect, this law will be like installing antivirus software in Hong Kong, with ‘One Country, Two Systems’ working more safely, smoothly and sustainably,” said Zhang, referring to the model by which China allows Hong Kong certain freedoms. and autonomy denied to its citizens on the authoritarian continent.
Opponents fear the law – which is currently being drafted in Beijing and bypasses the Hong Kong legislature – will bring continental-style political oppression to a business center supposed to guarantee freedoms and autonomy until 2047.
On the authoritarian continent, anti-subversion laws are commonly used to eradicate dissent.
In his speech, Zhang repeated Beijing’s claims that the law would only target “a very small number of people”.
“The radical separatists in the opposition camp have confused the restraint and patience of the central government with weakness and timidity,” he said. “They have gone too far.”
Millions of Hong Kongers took to the streets last year during the months of rallies, the culmination of years of mounting fears that Beijing would prematurely erode the city’s freedoms.
But Beijing described the move as a conspiracy by foreign powers to destabilize mainland China.
“The opposition camp … wants to transform Hong Kong into an independent or semi-independent political entity, a bridgehead for the outside powers to oppose China and the Chinese Communist Party and a chessboard that the outside powers can use to contain China, “Zhang told me.
During protests last year, Zhang’s office and Chinese state media previously said that problems like the lack of housing and the high cost of living may have fueled the unrest.
But in recent months, Beijing has instead called the city’s political crisis a threat to national security.
“From my point of view, the key problem in Hong Kong is not an economic problem, nor a livelihood problem regarding people’s housing and employment … It is a political problem,” said Zhang.
The bill approved by the Chinese parliament also proposed to allow mainland security agents to settle in Hong Kong for the first time.
Zhang rejected “rumors” that they could arrest and send suspects to the mainland.
“National security organizations must strictly obey the laws when dealing with matters in mainland China, how is it possible that they are not forced into Hong Kong?” he said.
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
