By Jessie Pang and Joyce Zhou
HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s prime official on Hong Kong affairs mentioned town ought to “tightly hold” onto the underside line of nationwide safety to safeguard growth, in a speech coming weeks after the enactment of sweeping new safety legal guidelines.
“To move towards governance and prosperity, we need to tightly hold onto the bottom line of national security in order to safeguard the high quality development of Hong Kong,” mentioned the director of Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Workplace, Xia Baolong, in a speech to mark an annual nationwide safety day.
Hong Kong in March enacted a brand new nationwide safety regulation, often known as article 23, that updates or introduces new legal guidelines to ban treason, sabotage, sedition, the theft of state secrets and techniques and espionage, with jail phrases of as much as life imprisonment.
Xia, nonetheless, sought to emphasize that the regulation posed no risk to buyers, at a time when town has confronted Western criticism of a protracted crackdown on dissent, and has struggled economically and financially.
“For the general public of Hong Kong and foreign investors, this law is the protector of their rights, freedoms, property and investment,” Xia mentioned.
“Investors from all over the world can come to Hong Kong to invest in new businesses bravely and without concerns,” he added. “Hong Kong remains the best place in the world to do business and make money and achieve your dreams.”
Some international governments together with america and Britain, nonetheless, have criticised the brand new regulation as contemporary instrument for authorities to clamp down on dissent. The laws provides to a different nationwide safety regulation China immediately imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 in response to mass pro-democracy protests.
Beijing, nonetheless, says the legal guidelines are essential to safeguard town’s stability and prosperity.
The U.S. Consulate Common in Hong Kong mentioned on Saturday that guests to town ought to “exercise increased caution” with the State Division updating its journey advisory given the brand new nationwide safety laws.
Canada additionally up to date its advisory just lately, saying folks wanted to “exercise a high degree of caution in Hong Kong due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws”.
The safety legal guidelines have thus far been used to jail scores of main Hong Kong democrats together with Joshua Wong, whereas liberal media retailers and civil society teams have been shut down.
Greater than 290 folks have been arrested beneath the Beijing imposed nationwide safety regulation thus far. Of those, 174 folks and 5 corporations have been charged, together with distinguished China critic and businessman Jimmy Lai — who’s at present on trial and will face life imprisonment.
