National security law: five differences between Hong Kong’s new legislation and 2003’s shelved Article 23 bill

Name: China’s emblem goes up as Hong Kong hotel becomes Beijing’s national security office in city
Uploaded: 2020-07-09T00:00:12.000Z
Duration: 34 s
Description: China’s emblem goes up as Hong Kong hotel becomes Beijing’s national security office in city

While critics of new legislation are still in shock, analysts say that, in some ways, the city has been down this road before

The Post explores differences in wordings, processes and the context behind version of the law 17 years ago that sparked massive protest

Reading Time:8 minutes

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Seventeen years separate two major controversies over national security in Hong Kong. Illustration: SCMP Graphics

Natalie Wong

Published: 8:00am, 9 Jul 2020Updated: 11:01am, 9 Jul 2020

As Hong Kong comes to grips with the sweeping national security law tailor-made by Beijing, it may appear as if the legislation was drawn from scratch. But there are parallels with another home-made version, crafted in the city almost two decades ago.

In 2003, an unpopular bill that regulated seven acts was pushed forward by the local government, but it was shelved after more than 500,000 people took to the streets on July 1, the handover anniversary marking Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule. It was the largest postcolonial protest the city had seen.

Seventeen years later, Beijing chose the eve of the anniversary of the handover – at 11pm on June 30 – to impose the new law, described by mainland Chinese officials as “a birthday gift” to safeguard the city’s “one country, two systems” governing principle. However, critics have called it “the end of Hong Kong as people know it”.

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China’s emblem goes up as Hong Kong hotel becomes Beijing’s national security office in city

The first week into the enforcement of the much-stiffer-than-expected law saw localist parties disbanding, activists fleeing abroad and 10 protesters arrested for allegedly displaying pro-independence slogans in a July 1 march that was banned by police.

Fear and anxiety continue to pervade across swathes of society as new regulations kicked in after the Committee for Safeguarding National Security, in the first meeting on Tuesday, detailed new powers – as derived from the newly minted law – to local police to raid premises without a court warrant and demand information from political groups operating outside the city.

Hong Kong national security law full text:

In many ways, veteran analysts said they felt Hong Kong had been down this road before. These and many other sweeping powers under the new law were debated thoroughly in the legislative exercise of the now-withdrawn bill back in 2003, during which the local government made numerous concessions to fulfil demands by various sectors on safeguarding civil liberties.

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National security law: five differences between Hong Kong’s new legislation and 2003’s shelved Article 23 bill

While critics of new legislation are still in shock, analysts say that, in some ways, the city has been down this road before The Post explores differences in wordings, processes and the context behind version of the law 17 years ago that sparked massive protest

While critics of new legislation are still in shock, analysts say that, in some ways, the city has been down this road before

The Post explores differences in wordings, processes and the context behind version of the law 17 years ago that sparked massive protest