A Hong Kong association gathers at Chater Garden, Central Hong Kong, in support of the national security legislation in the city. Dozens of participants marched to the US Consulate General in Hong Kong waving the Five-Starred Red Flag and shouting slogans supporting the legislation and protesting the US' interference in China's internal affairs. Photo: cnsphoto

The highly anticipated national security law for Hong Kong has begun to have a powerful deterrent effect on foreign forces involved in meddling in Hong Kong affairs, and they would become the prime targets of the law for endangering China's national security.  The law goes after acts of secession, subversion of state power, terrorist activities, and collusion with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.

According to newly released details of the law, those who endanger national security by colluding with foreign or external forces, such as stealing, spying, buying up, or illegally providing state secrets or intelligence related to national security for foreign or overseas institutions, shall be sentenced to at least 3 years but not more than 10 years in jail. If the crimes are serious, they shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or a fixed-term imprisonment of at least 10 years.

Foreign organizations, institutes and personnel who violate the term will receive the same punishment, according to the law. 

The central government's national security office has the jurisdiction over complicated cases in which foreign forces' interference makes it difficult for the Hong Kong Special Administration Region (HKSAR) to excise its jurisdiction.  

When the central government's national security office investigates the cases that threaten national security, the Supreme People's Procuratorate will appoint procuratorial organs to exercise procuratorial authority, and the Supreme People's Court will appoint relevant courts to exercise judicial authority, according to the law.

Observers also said foreign forces behind months-long riots triggered by anti-government protests in Hong Kong since June 2019 have begun to waver, given that offenders could face severe sentences — as high as a life imprisonment. The new law would also cut off "the black hands" behind the chaos caused by foreign troublemakers. 

Foreign forces, including countries and authorities as well as relevant non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which collude with anti-government rioters in Hong Kong by supporting their illegal activities and providing "protective umbrellas" for the rioters, severely meddle in Hong Kong affairs, the observers said. Those forces are mainly based in the HKSAR, and also in the island of Taiwan and other places. 

On Tuesday, Taiwan regional leader Tsai Ing-wen told reporters that she was "very disappointed" by Chinese central government's imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong. She claimed this proves the "one country, two systems" principle which could be a basis for reunification "was not feasible," Reuters reported. 

The Taiwan separatist authority, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), made ridiculous criticisms of the national security law for HKSAR, and this has revealed its toxic purpose - to make trouble in Hong Kong and realize its separatist goal, noted a spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, China's cabinet. 

"Any attempt to harm Hong Kong's stability will fail, and the new national security law for Hong Kong will cut off 'the black hands' of the Taiwan DPP that make trouble in Hong Kong," the spokesperson said.

A large amount of materials show that "black hands" from Taiwan have helped exacerbate the public outcry in Hong Kong and have led the city into chaos, violence and recession in 2019.

Meanwhile, foreign politicians and anti-China forces have been seeking to destroy relations between Hong Kong and the mainland, with the ultimate purpose of making Hong Kong a battleground for international games, a base against the Chinese central government, and a pawn to contain China, experts said. 

"Western countries fear that after the national security law takes effect, the sources of funds for the riots will be traced. Their intervention in Hong Kong affairs will be exposed, and they would be held accountable," Lau Siu-kai, a vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

When both internal and external forces endangering national secuirty are contained, the possibility of large-scale political turmoil under the banner of "Hong Kong's independence" and "separatism" will be slim, he said, noting that the room for spying and color revolution-linked activities would quickly shrink. 

Days before the law was passed, some foreign groups began cutting ties with Hong Kong rioters. For example, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) reportedly froze $2 million that was meant to be used to support the protests in Hong Kong, which analysts said further proved the legitimacy and urgency of the law. 

On Tuesday, the EU and Japan also expressed their so-called regrets and anger over China's new legislation. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called it "regrettable" at a news conference. And EU Council President Charles Michel told a news conference that "we deplore the decision."

Unlike the US, which would take concrete countermeasures to pressure the Chinese government over Hong Kong affairs, countries and regions like Japan and the EU are unlikely to take any further steps beyond objecting in a diplomatic manner. They won't collude with Washington to impose sanctions on Beijing, Tian Feilong, a Hong Kong affairs and legal expert at Beihang University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

While opposition groups in Hong Kong are considering protests in the coming days, experts believe there won't be large-scale protests in the future as the "black hands" behind Hong Kong riots have backed off, thanks to deterrence effect of the national security law. 

The law seeks to effectively prevent, curb and punish four types of crimes endangering national security: acts of secession, subversion of state power, terrorist activities, and collusion with foreign or external forces to endanger national security. 


Newspaper headline: Security law deters foreign troublemakers