AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cThe EU is concerned that some definitions and provisions in the (proposed law) will equal the scope and the draconian measures of the National Security Law, or even go beyond those, and further weaken Hong Kong\u2019s remaining freedoms,\u201d the spokesperson added late on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom\u2019s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said on Wednesday that it will monitor the situation closely, adding that freedoms in the city had been significantly eroded under the guise of national security.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important that new legislation aligns with international standards and upholds the rights promised to the people of Hong Kong,\u201d the office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Britain handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997 under a \u201cone country, two systems\u201d regime, with the city having its own legal system.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong officials say the proposed law is a requirement of the city\u2019s mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, and would target five types of crimes \u2014 including treason, espionage and external interference.<\/p>\n
Beijing said it fully supported a new security law in Hong Kong, hailing it as guaranteeing \u201clong-term peace and stability\u201d in the semi-autonomous city.<\/p>\n
The new law \u201cwill help protect the basic wellbeing of all Hong Kong residents, protect the interests of investors from all over the world, and help (it) guarantee high-quality development\u201d, China\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.<\/p>\n
But Eric Lai, a researcher at Georgetown University\u2019s Centre for Asian Law, told AFP<\/em> that foreign investors might be wary and free flow of information may suffer.<\/p>\nThe proposal is \u201ctrying to align the state secret and espionage offences with those in mainland China\u2019s law\u201d, where foreign businesses are often implicated, he added.<\/p>\n
Johannes Hack, president of the German Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, said he hoped authorities would be more precise in defining state secrets as the term \u201ccan potentially cover a lot of ground\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hack told AFP<\/em> that he did not foresee German businesses in the city being affected by the new law, but said it risks being perceived abroad as Hong Kong adding \u201cyet another security law\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Union has raised concerns that Hong Kong\u2019s plan for a new national security law may weaken the city\u2019s freedoms, with business leaders calling for greater clarity. City leader John Lee on Tuesday unveiled a legislative proposal that would introduce new categories of security crimes \u2014 on top of an existing national security law […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/01\/3114264035508d0.png?r=142703","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}