Along with protecting China’s national security, its legitimate right, the new law aims to counter months of US orchestrated violence and vandalism in Hong Kong.
They were and continue to be led by 5th column elements that rocked the city last year, a scheme by US dark forces to destabilize and weaken China by attacking its soft underbelly.
From 1841 to 1997, Hong Kong was exploited as a British colony. The city is now Chinese territory.
Governed by Chinese laws, it enjoys a degree of local autonomy.
Britain and the US have no more say over how Hong Kong is governed than does Beijing have over how New York, London, or any other foreign cities are run.
They’re sovereign territory of their respective countries. China respects what the US and West reject.
Notably the US seeks control over all parts of the world not its own, what its global empire of bases is all about, platforms for endless preemptive wars of aggression.
US foreign policy reflects what the scourge of imperialism is all about — an unparalleled menace to everyone everywhere under both right wings of the its war party.
After being drafted last month during Beijing’s annual Central People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), adopted by the National People’s Congress (NPC), and sent to a Standing Committee for preparation in final form, details of the new law were released on Saturday.
As reported by Xinhua, it contains 66 articles in six chapters for safeguarding the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
The law “requires the HKSAR to establish a commission of safeguarding national security which shall be supervised by and accountable to the Central People’s Government.”
It “establish(es) an office of safeguarding national security in the HKSAR.”
It covers duties of the HKSAR to safeguard national security with jurisdiction over related issues, and enforcement of the law’s provisions under continuation of a “one country, two systems” arrangement.
The Central People’s Government in Beijing has authority for national security overall, similar to how Western nations operate.
The US 10th Amendment states that “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” — local autonomy that doesn’t conflict with federal powers.
UK devolution law grants powers to the parliaments of London, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the central government having oversight authority.
Under China’s new national security law, “(t)he Central People’s Government shoulders the fundamental responsibility for national security affairs related to the HKSAR, while the HKSAR bears the constitutional responsibility of safeguarding national security,” Xinhua explained, adding:
“The executive organs, legislature and judiciary of the HKSAR shall, in accordance with relevant laws, effectively prevent, stop and punish acts and activities that endanger national security.”
“Safeguarding China’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity is the common obligation of all Chinese people, including Hong Kong.”
The HKSAR is responsible for acting against activities in the city that jeopardize national security.
Four categories of crimes are designated as national security threats: secession, subversion of state power, terrorist activities, and collusion with foreign or external forces.
The HKSAR has jurisdiction over combatting them. A central government office charged with safeguarding national security throughout China is authorized to supervise and coordinate its activities with the HKSAR.
In some cases that threaten national security, what the law calls specific circumstances, central authorities in Beijing may exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed in Hong Kong or anywhere else in China.
If differences between the new national security law and local laws administered by the HKSAR, the NPC Standing Committee has final say.
China’s Global Times (GT) said the new national security law aims “to fix national security loopholes in Hong Kong, rather than depriving the city of its high degree of autonomy.”
Most, perhaps all nations, have laws to protect national security from internal and external threats.
Given Washington aim to transform China into a vassal state, wanting its development curbed, Beijing and the nation’s people are very much threatened.
The main responsibility of all ruling authorities is to protect the state from threats to its sovereignty.
The US poses an enormous threat to all countries unwilling to subordinate their rights to its interests.
China’s national security law is one more way for Beijing to protect the nation’s sovereign rights from foreign threats, notably by the US.
Overall, “(t)he central government’s direct jurisdiction over national security cases in (Hong Kong) will be very limited,” GT reported, adding:
“The protection of human rights and presumption of innocence before judicial conviction will be upheld.”
“The national security law for the HKSAR will not weaken the political rights of Hong Kong people, change the lives of local residents, or influence the implementation of Hong Kong’s common law.”
“It just clarifies the responsibility of the central government and the HKSAR over maintaining national security, drawing a bottom line that all Hongkongers should abide by in terms of national security while establishing a legal mechanism to carry out all these.”
“It is not meant to change operation of the city’s function, governance, or people’s way of work and life.”
It’s the responsibility of federal governments everywhere to enforce the rule of law nationwide.
US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis called the rule of law “the noblest of human productions.”
Grandson of a slave Justice Thurgood Marshall had a different view, saying:
“Do what you think is right and let the law catch up.”
The law should be all about serving and protecting everyone, assuring equity and justice for all — not just the privileged few as in the US, West and most other countries.
China’s national security law was established to counter foreign interference in its internal affairs, prohibited under international law.
The measure does not “extinguish challenges to (Beijing’s) power,” as the NYT falsely reported.
Nor does it “dismantle (Hong Kong’s) legal autonomy, as the Wall Street Journal claimed.
Or is it “the worst nightmare come true,” as a local official hostile to Beijing maintains, or the “death knell” for Hong Kong, as loose cannon Pompeo roared.
The new law will become effective on an unspecified date, most likely ahead of September 6 Hong Kong Legislative Council elections.
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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
