Message in banner held up by police, July 1, 2020, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong: “This is a police warning. You are displaying flags or banners/chanting slogans, or conducting yourselves with an intent such as secession or subversion, which may constitute offences under the ‘HKSAR National Security Law.’ You may be arrested or prosecuted.” The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee Standing Committee (NPCSC) on June 30, 2020 and went into force the same day at 11:00 p.m. It was inserted in Annex III of the Basic Law of Hong Kong as one of the national laws applicable in Hong Kong.
“[The draft] national security law for the Hong Kong SAR would, if adopted, violate China’s international legal obligations and impose severe restrictions on civil and political rights in the autonomous region. . . . [It] would deprive the people of Hong Kong . . . the autonomy and fundamental rights guaranteed them under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration and the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ governance framework.”
“[A]re we going to take the honorable stand to defend the human rights and dignified way of life that millions of Hong Kong citizens have enjoyed and deserved . . . or are we going to allow the government in Beijing to undermine their international legal commitments . . . ?”