National security law: Hong Kong’s pro-establishment politicians reveal they were caught off guard by Beijing’s plan

Name: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam
Uploaded: 2020-06-05T15:18:03.000Z
Duration: 2 min 23 s
Description: Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Several say they only found out about the move after they arrived in Beijing last month for the annual session of the nation’s legislature

They also reveal that they were given just 48 hours to submit their views earlier this week to Beijing’s liaison office in city

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The liaison office gave local NPC deputies just 48 hours to submit their views on the new law. Photo: Bloomberg

Kimmy Chung

Published: 11:18pm, 5 Jun 2020Updated: 1:31am, 6 Jun 2020

Hong Kong’s pro-establishment politicians have revealed that they were caught off guard by Beijing’s plan to impose tailor-made national security legislation on the city, recalling how they learned about the move at the very last minute.

Suggesting that the central government’s decision was cast in stone, they said they only knew about it after they arrived in the Chinese capital last month for the annual session of the nation’s legislature, several of them told the Post.

Revealing the speed at which the discussions were progressing, they also said they were only given 48 hours to submit their views earlier this week.

On Friday, Beijing’s liaison office said it had received more than 130 pieces of written feedback from local deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC), the legislature, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation’s top advisory body.

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Beijing remains ‘very firm’ on national security law for Hong Kong, says city’s leader Carrie Lam

Many believed they had limited room to make changes to the national security law, which was expected to be passed as early as the end of this month, as the matter was out of the city’s hands and Beijing had already made its own assessment of what was needed for Hong Kong.