Hong Kong’s slide into authoritarianism and repression is getting steeper and faster. In January, authorities proposed new national security legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini constitution. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement that the United States is “particularly concerned by Hong Kong authorities’ proposal to adopt broad and vague definitions of ‘state secrets’ and ‘external interference’ that could be used to eliminate dissent through the fear of arrest and detention.”
The people of Hong Kong are already suffering from the violation of their rights to free expression and assembly, which were guaranteed by the “One Country, Two Systems” framework agreed to under the 1984 Sino-British Declaration. That Declaration, which also guaranteed a high degree of autonomy for Hong Kong, paved the way for Britain to hand over control of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997.
The loss of the freedoms and rights of the people of Hong Kong have accelerated in recent years, particularly after the PRC imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020. Under the law dozens of pro-democracy opposition leaders and advocates, including media mogul Jimmy Lai, have been charged with subversion and other security-related crimes. Rights organizations estimate that more than 1500 political prisoners are behind bars. In addition, PRC-imposed changes to the electoral system have drastically limited the ability of Hong Kongers to participate in free elections; and independent media outlets have been forcibly closed by the authorities in an attempt to silence dissenting views and stifle freedom of speech.
Spokesperson Miller also expressed concern that Hong Kong authorities will apply the proposed legislation under Article 23 extraterritorially “in their ongoing campaign of transnational repression to intimidate and restrict the free speech of U.S. citizens and residents.”
Spokesperson Miller declared, “Article 23 risks compounding the 2020 National Security Law that has curtailed the rights and freedoms of people in Hong Kong. Enacting additional national security legislation with vaguely defined provisions and purported extraterritorial reach would further violate the PRC’s international commitments and undermine the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework.”
