China's Communist Party has set in motion a controversialnational security law for Hong Kong, a move that is seen as a major blow to the freedoms enjoyed by the city for the past two decades--and also another salvo in the brewing cold war between Washington and Beijing. China’s National People's Congress (NPC) put forward plans to introduce a national security and anti-sedition law on behalf of Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
In Washington, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo urging Beijing to “reconsider its disastrous proposal", while US President Donald Trump warned that Washington would react “very strongly”.
Hong Kong holds a special economic status under US export and trade regulations. China's new proposal threatens some $38 billion of trade between the US and Hong Kong.
Hong Kong--a longtime safe haven for critics of the Chinese government--has enjoyed liberties that don’t exist in mainland China.
That would come to an end if the NPC’s plans are enforced.
Article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution says the city must enact national security laws to prohibit “treason, secession, sedition [and] subversion” against the Chinese government. That clause, however, has never been implemented.