China prepared for international backlash over Hong Kong national security law

Name: How China is drafting a new Hong Kong national security law at the National People’s Congress
Uploaded: 2020-05-28T06:00:06.000Z
Duration: 2 min 17 s
Description: How China is drafting a new Hong Kong national security law at the National People’s Congress

Government advisers say Beijing expects escalation in tensions with US but is ready for ‘worst case’ scenario

Threats to revoke city’s special trading status ‘futile’ and would ‘hurt American interests’

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A tailor-made national security law for Hong Kong is expected to be put to a vote at the end of the National People’s Congress on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

Catherine Wong

Published: 2:00pm, 28 May 2020Updated: 10:27am, 5 Jun 2020

Beijing is “prepared for the worst case scenario” of an international backlash following the Trump administration’s decision to certify that Hong Kong is no longer suitably autonomous from mainland China.

Chinese government advisers said China expected tensions with the US to escalate with the passage by the National People’s Congress of a resolution calling for a national security law in the city. But Beijing’s retaliation would depend on US action, they said.

“These threats [by the US] are what we expected. But they are futile in preventing the passing of the law. We have prepared for the worst case scenario,” said Ruan Zongze, senior research fellow at China Institute of International Studies, a think tank under China’s foreign ministry.

The spat between China and the US over Hong Kong moved to the UN on Thursday, with Washington requesting an emergency meeting over the city, which Beijing refused to allow to proceed. The Chinese mission to the UN said the request was “baseless” and the legislation was purely China’s internal affair.

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How China is drafting a new Hong Kong national security law at the National People’s Congress

The resolution to craft a tailor-made national security law for Hong Kong is expected to be put to a vote at the end of the National People’s Congress on Thursday afternoon. The proposal has drawn international alarm, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declaring a day earlier that he had informed Congress the city no longer maintained a high degree of autonomy, “given facts on the ground”.