At China's behest: Yesterday, Hong Kong passed a new national security law that will create draconian penalties for all manner of political crimes. Beijing puppet/Hong Kong leader John Lee says these swiftly passed laws "allow Hong Kong to effectively prevent and put a stop to espionage activities, the conspiracies and traps of intelligence units and the infiltration and damage of enemy forces." He's trying to push a narrative that such laws—passed expeditiously over 11 days, the fastest a bill has gone through Hong Kong's legislature since 1997—are needed to thwart Western spying. But what they actually represent is a massive encroachment on the already-eroded civil liberties of Hongkongers who have been absorbed back under mainland Chinese rule.
"The law criminalizes the possession of state secrets, which some international financial firms fear could include information about the state of the economy," reports Semafor. "It also expands the definition of espionage to such an extent that it could have a chilling effect on all exchanges with foreign diplomats, one law professor at the University of Hong Kong warned the government last month."
