UK ‘Strongly’ Urges Hong Kong Authorities to Reconsider New National Security Law Proposals

British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has “strongly” urged the authorities in Hong Kong to reconsider its proposal to pass its own national security law. Lord Cameron said vague and broadly defined terms in the proposed legislation will inhibit freedom of speech, expression, and the press, and threaten international organisations as well as diplomats. Article 23, outlined in Hong Kong’s Basic Law enacted after its handover from British rule in 1997, mandated that Hong Kong write its own national security code. An attempt to do so in 2003 led to massive protests, leading the government to shelve the proposal. After pro-democracy protests brought hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers to the streets in 2019, Beijing imposed a national security law to punish four major crimes: secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces....