<\/p>\n
HONG KONG: A new national security law came into force in Hong Kong on Saturday despite growing international criticism that it could erode freedoms in the China-ruled city and damage its international financial hub credentials.<\/p>\n
The law, also known as Article 23, took effect at midnight, days after Hong Kong\u2019s pro-Beijing lawmakers passed it unanimously, fast-tracking legislation to plug what authorities called national security loopholes.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the law \u201caccomplished a historic mission, living up to the trust placed in us by the Central (Chinese) Authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n
The United States expressed concerns that the law would further erode the city\u2019s autonomy and damage its reputation as an international business hub.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt includes vaguely defined provisions regarding \u2018sedition\u2019, \u2018state secrets\u2019, and interactions with foreign entities that could be used to curb dissent,\u201d US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Australia and Britain on Friday criticised the law after a bilateral meeting in Adelaide, expressing \u201cdeep concerns about the continuing systemic erosion of autonomy, freedoms and rights\u201d in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
The United Nations and the European Union recently noted the extremely swift passage of the law with limited public consultation, by a legislature overhauled in recent years to remove opposition democrats. Australia, Britain and Taiwan updated their travel advisories for Hong Kong, urging citizens to exercise caution.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong authorities, however, \u201cstrongly condemned such political manoeuvres with skewed, fact-twisting, scaremongering and panic-spreading remarks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HONG KONG: A new national security law came into force in Hong Kong on Saturday despite growing international criticism that it could erode freedoms in the China-ruled city and damage its international financial hub credentials. The law, also known as Article 23, took effect at midnight, days after Hong Kong\u2019s pro-Beijing lawmakers passed it unanimously, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75042,"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\/03\/240811475578b68.jpg?r=081308","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t