The government of China has signalled that it's no longer prepared to accept the level of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly that Hong Kong residents have enjoyed for decades.

Today, the National People's Congress in Beijing voted for a national security law for Hong Kong, which is expected to outlaw secession, subversion, terrorism, and activities by foreign entities that interfere in Hong Kong.

Many Hong Kong residents believe that once it is rubber-stamped by the Hong Kong Legislative Council, it will lead to the arrests of those who criticize the Beijing government.

Joshua Wong, secretary general of the pro-democracy Demosisto party in Hong Kong, tweeted that foreign companies could even be victimized by this "new evil law".

He also claimed that "China is scrapping its promise of autonomy" under the Joint Declaration, which is a binding international treaty.

https://twitter.com/joshuawongcf/status/1265992846110121985

When the United Kingdom turned Hong Kong over to the People's Republic of China in 1997, people living in the former British colony were promised "one country, two systems" under the Sino-British Joint Declaration.

This constitutional principle of China was supposed to ensure that Hong Kong would remain autonomous, with its own passports and legislative assembly.

Hong Kong would retain its capitalist economy and its legal system for 50 years after unification.

The Basic Law of Hong Kong was described as the mini-constitution, protecting freedoms enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association.

In 2013, the National People's Congress chose Xi Jinping as president, replacing Hu Jintao after his two terms had expired.

Just one year later, China's deputy ambassador to Britain, Ni Jian, insisted that the Joint Declaration was void because it only covered the period from 1984 to 1997 when Britain was in negotiations with China.

Then in 2018, the National People's Congress scrapped term limits for the president, raising the prospect that the iron-fisted Xi will rule the country for life.

Today's National People's Congress's motion amends Hong Kong's Basic Law. According to the South China Morning Post, it may take several months to take effect.

There are 7.5 million residents in Hong Kong, including an estimated 300,000 Canadians. The city came under British rule as a result of the 1842 Treaty of Nanking following the First Opium War.

Human rights groups condemn China

On its website, Human Rights Watch declares that China's government "sees human rights as an existential threat".

"No other government is simultaneously detaining a million members of an ethnic minority for forced indoctrination and attacking anyone who dares to challenge its repression," the organization states. "And while other governments commit serious human rights violations, no other government flexes its political muscles with such vigor and determination to undermine the international human rights standards and institutions that could hold it to account.

"If not challenged, Beijing’s actions portend a dystopian future in which no one is beyond the reach of Chinese censors, and an international human rights system so weakened that it no longer serves as a check on government repression."

Several Canadians, including diplomat on leave Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, remain in jail in China.

Kovrig and Spavor were taken into custody in December 2018 after Canada arrested senior Huawei official Meng Wangzhou on a provisional U.S. extradition warrant.

Meng is out on bail and living in a Shaughnessy mansion as she's fighting extradition. Kovrig and Spavor have been denied access to Canadian consular officials and lawyers.

Amnesty International says on its website that China's justice system "remained plagued by unfair trials and torture and other ill treatment in detention" last year.

It notes that law enforcement and the judicial system remain largely under the control of the Chinese Communist Party, leading to "legalized and arbitrary secret detention", which increased the risk of torture.

Everything from the media to online games are censored in China, according to Amnesty International, and religious leaders have been jailed or sent to detention camps under the pretext of endangering state security.

"From early 2017, after the Xinjiang government had enacted a regulation enforcing so-called “de-extremification”, an estimated up to one million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other ethnic minority people were sent to these internment camps," it maintains. "Many religious figures, intellectuals and academics were detained in Xinjiang merely for exercising their rights to freedom of religion and expression.

"This includes Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economist, writer and professor who was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 and Tashpolat Teyip, former president of Xinjiang University who was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in 2017, both on charges of 'separatism'."

Pompeo issues warning

The U.S. government has condemned Beijing's "disastrous decision" to unilaterally impose its national security law on Hong Kong.

"After careful study of developments over the reporting period, I certified to Congress today that Hong Kong does not continue to warrant treatment under United States laws in the same manner as U.S. laws were applied to Hong Kong before July 1997," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. "No reasonable person can assert today that Hong Kong maintains a high degree of autonomy from China, given facts on the ground.

"Hong Kong and its dynamic, enterprising, and free people have flourished for decades as a bastion of liberty, and this decision gives me no pleasure," he continued. "But sound policy making requires a recognition of reality. While the United States once hoped that free and prosperous Hong Kong would provide a model for authoritarian China, it is now clear that China is modeling Hong Kong after itself."

Wong tweeted that Pompeo's declaration that Hong Kong is "insufficiently autonomous" from China reflects the actual situation and is embraced by most Hong Kong residents.

"If the U.S. no longer treats Hong Kong as a separate customs territory, will our economy suffer?" Wong asked. "Of course! It's painful to acknowledge that the stock market may plung, unemployment numbers may rise and foreign businesses may flee. Yet the hit is necessary."

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