Hong Kong releases draft of new national security law

Hong Kong's government unveiled a draft national security law on Friday that proposes up to life imprisonment for offenses like treason and insurrection

The draft "Safeguarding National Security Bill," covers reason, espionage, external interference, state secrets, and sedition. 

Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee on Thursday called for the bill to be passed at "full speed."

It is expected to pass easily, possibly in weeks, in a legislature packed with Beijing loyalists following an electoral overhaul.

Concerns over freedoms

Critics have warned the legislation will make Hong Kong's legal framework increasingly similar to that of mainland China. On Friday,  Chinese lawmakers moved to create new national security laws.

For treason, the bill includes punishment up to life imprisonment for treason. It proposes 20 years imprisonment for espionage and 10 years for offences linked to state secrets and sedition.

The Hong Kong government has stated that several Western countries have comparable laws, and that these regulations are necessary to close gaps in the national security system, which was reinforced in 2020 with another national security law directly imposed by China.

The EU had earlier expressed  "grave concerns" over the bill's provisions on "external interference."

According to Hong Kong's Basic Law, the government needs to enact a national security law. A previous attempt to pass the aw resulted in mass protests in 2019, after which a security law was put in place in 2020 to crack down on dissent.

Many pro-democracy activists have been arrested and punished, while others have escaped abroad. Several society groups and outspoken media outlets have been disbanded.

The government of the former British colony has said that it would affect only "an extremely small minority" of residents.

Several stakeholders are closely monitoring these developments. Some critics say this will cause a further decline in the civil liberties enjoyed by Hong Kong citizens.

Some people from the business community were unhappy with the decision to speed up the approval. "The fact they are rushing through article 23 shows concern about public opposition. The business community is going to be unhappy unless there are guard rails protecting individual rights," Andrew Collier, managing director at Orient Capital Research told Reuters news agency.

tg/lo (AP, AFP Reuters)