July 01, 2003

Hundreds of thousands of people jammed the streets of Hong Kong today to protest against a new national security law that they fear will curb freedom of speech. Oliver August in Beijing, reports.

What is this law and why is it feared?

It's a very broad law that allows Hong Kong authorities to prosecute people advocating, for example, the territory's secession from China, or in some way endangering national security, e.g., holding documents that are supposedly state secrets.

When Britain and China negotiated the return of Hong Kong before 1997, China insisted on providing for the drafting of a security law and this was agreed by London along with several other things, including introducing elections in due course.

The Beijing-appointed leaders of Hong Kong have implemented those parts of the agreed Basic Law driven by Beijing and are far from establishing democratic fair and free elections.

In China these security laws are used against political opponents, not least journalists. All documents are secret unless declared otherwise. If I get a regional forestry report that has not been published, I would be in breach of the security laws. It's a very easy charge to bring and is used in China quite arbitrarily.

The Hong Kong law, called Article 23, is by far the most significant rule change since the handover. In the past it has been a question of practice or culture rather than legislation police have harassed religious groups and democracy campaigners, but they didn't have a strong legislative basis for it. The clauses that make it illegal to advocate secession would be a basic impediment to the freedom of speech.

How significant is today's rally?

There are double the number of people expected, 200,000 people in a city of 6.8 million that's a lot especially in a city that is not used to mass demonstrations. Hong Kong is often described as an apolitical and apathetic city that is mostly concerned with making money.

It is interesting that a lot of protesters were wearing black T-shirts to show that they were mourning for the old Hong Kong. One move by some protesters was to burn the Chinese Communist Party flag. It is illegal to burn the Hong Kong flag or the Chinese flag but, by oversight, not the Communist Party flag. That is perfectly legal and offensive.

Will the new law be as bad as protesters fear?

Hong Kong won't automatically adopt the Chinese way of implementing it. Some fear that the authorities will start using the full force of the new powers immediately.

Others think that even if the powers are not implemented immediately it will still be terrible as it will undermine the way of business. People previously had confidence that the territory was the freest place in Asia to do business.

Why does Beijing want this law?

They are worried that protest organisations use Hong Kong as a springboard into mainland China. Everyone from Amnesty International to the Falun Gong has an office there - anyone who wants to be close to China but outside the grasp of the authorities.

At the moment that is not a problem, but if there were lots of organisations outside the reach of Beijing this would provide a legal measure to deal with them.

Will protests make any difference?

The law is scheduled to go through on July 9 and the Government definitely has the votes. Two thirds of the legislature is appointed by Beijing. The protest has been big but not big enough for them to think it is not worth going through with passing the law.

For a few years they will probably be very careful about using it until people have calmed down. There was some pressure from the US Consul General in Hong Kong who spoke out against it as well as Bill Rammell, the Foreign Office Minister for Asia. But that's not had an effect.

What else has changed since Britain handed Hong Kong back to China six years ago today?

The main changes have been economic. In July 1997 Hong Kong was on a high, the stock market was at a peak. But shortly afterward the Asian financial crisis hit, the housing bubble burst, unemployment reached a high of 8.3 per cent even housemaids are having their minimum wage cut. Hong Kong is feeling very poor and depressed at the moment.

A large part of the cause has been external, but the Government hasn't helped. Appointed by Beijing it is seen as incompetent and has not provided leaders that could have made the situation a little better.

Another development has been that the people that fled Hong Kong long before the handover are coming back. Many bought up half of Vancouver, but they have started to dribble back since Hong Kong did not change in the ways that they feared and because of the housing bubble is bursting they can buy back their apartments. Some keep two homes, one in Canada and one in Hong Kong.

Beijing hasn't used a sledgehammer, but there have been subtle changes. A lot of people say that slowly the confidence of the Hong Kong politicians has drained. They constantly look over their shoulders trying to second guess what Beijing might want them to do. The perception of control is probably stronger than the control itself.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,343-731368,00.html