China yesterday faced growing international pressure over its move to impose security legislation on Hong Kong that critics say will destroy the territory’s autonomy, with the US and Britain placing the issue before the UN Security Council.
The US, Britain, Canada and Australia led criticism of the bill, which would punish secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and acts that endanger national security, as well as allow Chinese security agencies to operate openly in Hong Kong.
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) on Thursday approved the plans for the legislation, which followed seven months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last year.
Photo: AP
After China fended off initial US efforts this week to have the controversy put on the agenda of the UN Security Council, the US and Britain succeeded in securing an informal discussion about it, diplomatic sources told reporters.
Beijing’s proposed security law “lies in direct conflict” with China’s international obligations to guarantee certain freedoms in Hong Kong, the two countries said in a joint statement with Canada and Australia on Thursday.
“The proposed law would undermine the one country, two systems framework,” they said, referring to Hong Kong’s special status within China under the terms of its handover from Britain in 1997.
British Secretary of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Dominic Raab said that the UK would widen its rules around the rights of British National (Overseas) passport holders — a status offered to many Hong Kongers at the time of handover — if China went ahead with the legislation.
The Chinese vote came just hours after Washington revoked the special status conferred on Hong Kong, paving the way for the territory to be stripped of trading and economic privileges.
US President Donald Trump said he was to hold a news conference yesterday about China.
“We’ll be announcing tomorrow [yesterday] what we’re doing with respect to China,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
“We’re not happy with China,” he said.
NPC Standing Committee Chairman Li Zhanshu (栗戰書) said that the legislation was “in line with the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, including Hong Kong compatriots,”
“For [Hong Kong residents], safeguarding national security is a must, rather than a choice,” the Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.
In Hong Kong, the pro-democracy movement voiced the opposite sentiments.
“It’s the end of Hong Kong,” Hong Kong Legislator Claudia Mo (毛孟靜) told reporters. “They are cutting off our souls, taking away the values which we’ve always embraced, values like human rights, democracy, rule of law.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of