We are back ! See you in the streets on May 24
said graffiti on a wall near the Kowloon Tong metro station on Saturday. This Sunday, indeed, thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong to denounce a Chinese bill according to them liberticide. The rallies provoked a sharp response from the riot police.
After almost daily demonstrations last year, the protest could have seemed stifled due to the imperative of social distancing linked to the fight against the coronavirus.
But the tabling in the Chinese Parliament, on Friday, of a text aiming to prohibit betrayal, secession, sedition and subversion
in Hong Kong set fire to the powder again. Especially since China asked for its application this Sunday without any delay
.
The draft resolution will be voted on by the Chinese parliament next Thursday during the closing session of the current parliamentary session. The outcome is clear, the assembly being submitted to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The law will then be applied at the local level. A forceps setup that will reignite instability in Hong Kong.
A “securicide” law
Article 23 of the Basic Law
, which has served as the Hong Kong constitution since 1997, plans for the former British colony, which became a semi-autonomous region in 1997, to acquire of a law prohibiting betrayal, secession, sedition (and) subversion
.
Beijing is losing patience because this clause has never been applied. An attempt by the Hong Kong executive to get the law passed in 2003 was postponed after half a million residents took to the streets. The reason ? The opposition of a large part of Hong Kongers (11% consider themselves Chinese according to a June 2019 poll), who see it as a threat to their freedoms (expression, press, independent justice) guaranteed by the concept One country, two systems
.
This time, Beijing intends to push through by submitting the text directly to its national parliament, bypassing the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. The standing committee of the Chinese parliament has the right to integrate into the Basic Law
Hong Kong legislative texts if they fall under the sovereign (defense and foreign affairs).
The bill, which includes seven articles, says it wants to prevent, stop and sanction
in the territory any act aimed at dividing the country, overthrowing power, organizing and carrying out terrorist activities
or any behavior seriously endangering national security
. Beijing has repeatedly accused radical protesters of carrying out attacks terrorists
.
The text also calls for firmly oppose any form of interference by foreign forces
and to take all necessary retaliatory measures
if applicable. A clause which targets in particular the United States, whose President Donald Trump promulgated in November a law supporting the pro-democracy camp facing Beijing.
US critics
The United States accused China on Friday of wanting to wear a fatal blow
to Hong Kong’s autonomy, threatening trade reprisals on this new front, which is fueling already strained relations over the coronavirus.
US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo Urged firmly
Beijing to reconsider his disastrous proposition
, which unilaterally and arbitrarily imposes a national security law in Hong Kong
. This would be a fatal blow to the high degree of autonomy promised by Beijing
, he warned.
Warning shot? The US Department of Commerce announced Friday that it has added 33 Chinese companies and institutions to its blacklist, accusing them of contributing to human rights abuses.
Barter: investigation into virus against indifference in Hong Kong
China, where appeared the Covid-19 at the end of last year and who is often blamed for the spread of the pandemic, says to himself ready
to international cooperation to identify the source of the new coronavirus, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday. Such a request from the international community has so far been dismissed by Beijing.
Such cooperation should, he said, refrain from any political interference
, Wang accusing American politicians of wanting to spread rumors
in order to stigmatize china
.
The message is clear: an international investigation into the spread of the virus will be possible if the international community refrains from criticizing Chinese domestic policy and, of course, Hong Kong.
Barter or not, Washington and Beijing are playing big. And as Richard Haass, chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, says, the U.S. and China are going through their most dangerous time since the start of modern relations in the 1970s
. According to the former American diplomat, the list of disputes is growing […] but there is no strategic vision or plan to limit friction. Both countries risk losing
.
– .
