China’s top office in Hong Kong on Wednesday deplored United States measures, including sanctions against the semi-autonomous island, adding that dropping the city’s special trading status was “gangster logic and bullying”.
The Hong Kong liaison office said the US would be affected more than the Asian financial hub.
"No external force can block China's determination and confidence to maintain national sovereignty and security for Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability," read the statement.
The national security law imposed by Beijing targets what it chiefly determines as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. That includes international advocacy work, Nathan Law, a Hong Kong politician and activist in exile told RFI.
'Responsibility to tell the truth'
Law recently moved to Britain to continue his advocacy for a free Hong Kong.
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“Yes indeed, there’s a possibility that I will be arrested, and for me, it’s also more than a personal choice, because it is important for us to have a public figure,” says the former student leader.
“It’s really my responsibility to tell the truth to the international community,” he says.
A number of measures have been taken by Australia, Britain, and the US after China announced its application of their national security law on Hong Kong.`
I've spent the morning listening to @nathanlawkc and esteemed human rights lawyer Dame Helena Kennedy discuss the appalling attacks on liberty and human rights in #hongkong.
— Catherine West MP (@CatherineWest1) July 16, 2020
Labour has been clear that Britain must do more to protect the liberty and autonomy Hong Kong deserves. pic.twitter.com/oTnwgSrjSV
Australia is offering five-year visa extensions to Hong Kongers, which has angered China, its biggest trading partner. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he would offer three million Hong Kong residents the chance to settle in the UK with a view to obtaining citizenship. The US levied sanctions and took away Hong Kong’s special status.
“I see these acts as the first step of the world recognising we need to hold China accountable,” he says.
“Yes indeed, there will be some possible harm to Hong Kong, but this is for the communist party to take the blame,” he adds.
End of one country, two systems
Hong Kong was previously under a "one country, two systems" agreement where Hong Kongers ruled their own special administrative region and elected their chief executive.
“Now, Beijing has set up a secret agency in Hong Kong that will override...the Hong Kong government. It is definitely the end of one country, two systems,” Law says.
China says it has the sovereign right to maintain national security and put an end to the “chaos” after many peaceful demonstrations turned violent over the last year.
Hong Kongers have little choice but to protest more forcefully, because they are frustrated, says Law.
Courage on the streets
“I think peaceful demonstrations are still very important…but we understand why people are fighting with more aggressive means. It’s because nothing can hold the government accountable,” he says, paying tribute to those who have the courage to go out on the streets.
Meanwhile, the Chinese-backed Hong Kong government said it fully supported China’s plan to impose sanctions on US interests.
"It is hypocritical for the US to introduce measures to attack China by creating issues in (Hong Kong) under the pretext of human rights, democracy and autonomy out of its own political considerations," it said in a statement late Wednesday.
