HONG KONG: China's parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong yesterday, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony's way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. State media is expected to publish details of the law - which comes in response to last year's often-violent pro-democracy protests in the city and aims to tackle subversion, terrorism, separatism and collusion with foreign forces - later on. Amid fears the legislation will crush the global financial hub's freedoms, and reports that the heaviest penalty under it would be life imprisonment, pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong's Demosisto group said it would dissolve. "It marks the end of Hong Kong that the world knew before," Wong said on Twitter.

The legislation pushes Beijing further along a collision course with the United States, Britain and other Western governments, which have said it erodes the high degree of autonomy the city was granted at its July 1, 1997, handover. The United States, already in dispute with China over trade, the South China Sea and the novel coronavirus, began eliminating Hong Kong's special status under US law on Monday, halting defense exports and restricting access to high-technology. China said it would retaliate. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, speaking at her weekly news conference, said it was not appropriate for her to comment on the legislation as the meeting in Beijing was still going on, but she threw a jibe at the United States.

"No sort of sanctioning action will ever scare us," Lam said. Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of a think-tank under the Beijing cabinet's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told Reuters the law was passed unanimously with 162 votes. It is expected to come into force imminently. The editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a tabloid published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, said on Twitter the heaviest penalty under the law was life imprisonment, without providing details. Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong have repeatedly said the legislation is aimed at a few "troublemakers" and will not affect rights and freedoms, nor investor interests.

'Overpowering'
The legislation may get an early test with activists and pro-democracy politicians saying they would defy a police ban, amid coronavirus restrictions, on a rally on the anniversary of the July 1 handover. At last year's demonstration, which came amid a series of pro-democracy protests, a crowd stormed and vandalized the city's legislature. "We will never accept the passing of the law, even though it is so overpowering," said Democratic Party chairman Wu Chi-wai. It is unclear if attending the unauthorized rally would constitute a national security crime if the law came into force by then. A majority in Hong Kong opposes the legislation, a poll conducted for Reuters this month showed, but support for the protests has fallen to only a slim majority.

US ends exports
Meanwhile, The United States has ended sensitive defense exports to Hong Kong, further ramping up pressure in a row over the financial capital's autonomy from China. The US announced the decision hours after China said it would curb visas to some Americans heading to Hong Kong, itself a response to a US move. The United States has been leading a global uproar over a national security law which Hong Kong activists say will destroy the city's freedoms. "We can no longer distinguish between the export of controlled items to Hong Kong or to mainland China," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

"We cannot risk these items falling into the hands of the People's Liberation Army, whose primary purpose is to uphold the dictatorship of the CCP by any means necessary," he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. The direct impact will be modest. The State Department last year approved $2.4 million in defense sales to Hong Kong, of which $1.4 million worth were actually sent, including firearms and ammunition for law enforcement, according to official figures.

The Commerce Department simultaneously said it was revoking its special status for Hong Kong. It will now treat the financial hub the same as China for so-called dual-use exports that have both military and civilian applications - and which are highly restricted when sought by Beijing. China promised autonomy for Hong Kong before Britain returned the territory in 1997 but wants no repeat of massive and sometimes destructive protests that rocked the territory last year. "It gives us no pleasure to take this action, which is a direct consequence of Beijing's decision to violate its own commitments under the UN-registered Sino-British Joint Declaration," Pompeo said.

Tit-for-tat visa curbs
President Donald Trump's administration has already declared that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous in US eyes and has been rolling out a series of measures in response. On Friday, the State Department said it was restricting visas for an unspecified number of Chinese officials seen as responsible for infringing on the autonomy of the Asian financial hub. In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Monday that the US "scheme… to obstruct the passage of the Hong Kong national security law will never prevail." "To target the US's above wrongful actions, China has decided to impose visa restrictions against American individuals who have behaved egregiously on matters concerning Hong Kong," Zhao said.

China's top lawmaking committee passed the law on Tuesday. While outlawing acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces, the legislation will allow China's security agencies to set up shop publicly in the city for the first time. Pompeo condemned the move Monday evening. "If China wants to regain the trust of Hong Kongers and the international community, it should honor the promises it made to the Hong Kong people," he said in a statement.

Britain, the European Union and the United Nations rights watchdog have all voiced fears the law could be used to stifle criticism of Beijing, which uses similar laws on the authoritarian mainland to crush dissent. In Washington, some US lawmakers fear that Trump will take primarily symbolic action on Hong Kong, preferring to prioritize trade concerns that could affect his re-election campaign. Last week, the US Senate unanimously approved a bill that would impose mandatory economic sanctions against Chinese officials, Hong Kong police - and banks that work with them - if they are identified as hurting the city's autonomous status. - Agencies