Hong Kong Is Becoming China in More Ways Than One
With a wide-ranging new security law, the city's leaders risk looking as paranoid and overzealous as their mainland counterparts.
Don’t count on moderation.
Photographer: Paul Yeung/BloombergForeign businesses have good reason to wonder what Hong Kong’s wide-ranging new security law, known as Article 23, will mean for them. The US has said it is “alarmed” by the law’s vague wording. Some fear its definition of “state secrets” to include “social, economic, and technological information” related to the governments of Hong Kong and China could expose executives and finance professionals to charges of espionage just for doing their job.
In response, city officials insist the law is in line with international norms and should not concern media outlets, the financial sector, or non-government organizations as long as they engage only in “normal activities.” Chief Executive John Lee has hailed it as the “high point of patriotism.”