British-era Special Branch offers a hint of how local and mainland Chinese agents could help enforce Hong Kong’s new security law
- Key concerns include how exactly the mainland agents will work, whom they will be answerable to and whether Hong Kong authorities will have oversight of them
- Special Branch of police monitored suspect activities, groups, individuals for decades
In the final installment of a three-part series on Beijing’s move to create a new national security law for Hong Kong, we look at the past precedent of a secret colonial police outfit.
Key concerns include how exactly the mainland agents will work, whom they will be answerable to and whether Hong Kong authorities will have oversight of their activities.
00:50
Donald Trump announces US will revoke Hong Kong’s special status
Hinting at what the enforcement mechanisms could look like, pro-Beijing heavyweights have pointed to the Special Branch, the intelligence-gathering unit from Hong Kong’s colonial era.
A feature of British administration across its former colonies, the Special Branch was a secret unit dedicated to gathering information on activities, individuals and groups considered potential threats to security and the interests of the colonial master.
“Singapore has a Special Branch. We don’t. America has all kinds of law enforcement agencies that are tasked to deal with national security threats. We don’t. So it’s not surprising that as part of the efforts to fill the national security legal gap, we need to have a body,” Leung told Reuters.