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| Legislators attend the council meeting to discuss the controversial national anthem bill in Hong Kong, China June 4, 2020. Placards read, “Never forget June 4”, “The people’s determination is unstoppable” and “We will not be defeated”. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu |
Hong Kongโs Legislative Council started voting on a controversial bill on Thursday that would make disrespecting Chinaโs national anthem a criminal offence, amid heightened fears over Beijingโs tightening grip on the city.
The voting came just as people in Hong Kong were set to commemorate the bloody 1989 crackdown by Chinese troops in and around Tiananmen Square by lighting candles across the city later in the day. Police have banned the annual vigil in which the crackdown has been usually marked, citing the coronavirus outbreak.
A final vote on the bill is expected later on Thursday.
The bill could punish those who insult the anthem with up to three years jail and/or fines of up to HK$50,000 ($6,450). It states that โall individuals and organisationsโ should respect and dignify the national anthem and play it and sing it on โappropriate occasionsโ.
Tensions in the Chinese-ruled city have ramped up after Beijing gave the green light last week to move ahead with national security laws to tackle secession, subversion and foreign interference.
The move was quickly condemned by the United States, Britain, Australia and Canada, as well as international human rights groups and some business groups.
Breaking with their usual policy of political neutrality, HSBC and Standard Chartered banks gave their backing to the new law on Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Hong Kongโs National Anthem Bill if passed into law by the legislature will govern the use and playing of the Chinese national anthem.
This includes provisions that threaten to punish those who insult the anthem with up to three years jail and/or fines of up to HK$50,000 ($6,450). The bill states that โall individuals and organisationsโ should respect and dignify the national anthem and play it and sing it on โappropriate occasionsโ. It also orders that primary and secondary school students be taught to sing it, along with its history and etiquette.
WHY IS IT CONTROVERSIAL?
Anti-government protests last year were primarily aimed at resisting further integration with mainland China. The Chinese national anthem has been booed at several events, including football matches.
Protesters and pro-democracy politicians say the bill represents the latest sign of what they see as accelerating interference from Beijing in the freewheeling former British colony.
Britain handed Hong Kong back to Chinese rule in 1997 with guarantees that the cityโs core freedoms and way of life would be protected under a โone country, two systemsโ formula, which Beijing says it respects.
The freedoms of speech, press, association and demonstration are explicitly written into the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that guides Hong Kongโs relationship with China, its sovereign power. Opponents of the bill say those freedoms are now under threat.
More technically, some senior lawyers fear the bill is highly unusual in that it, in part, reflects the ideological aspirations of Chinaโs Communist Party that might prove difficult to enforce.
โIt is the first Hong Kong law Iโve seen that looks like it was written in Beijing,โ one senior judge told Reuters recently, speaking privately. โIt will be a nightmare to rule on.โ
The Hong Kong Bar Association acknowledged the need for such laws but said parts of the bill โdeviate from the good traditionsโ of Hong Kongโs common law system.
It said there was a fundamental difference between that system and the โsocialist legal system of mainland China which would include political ideology and conceptual guidanceโ.
WHERE DID IT COME FROM?
For years, Chinese officials and their pro-Beijing allies in Hong Kong have wanted to instil a greater sense of patriotic pride across its freest, and most restive, city.
Hong Kongโs government says the bill reflects the cityโs own legal system and situation.
โThe main spirit of the โฆ bill is โrespectโ, which bears absolutely no relations to โrestricting freedom of speechโ as claimed by certain members of the community and definitely not a so-called โevil lawโ,โ a spokesman said earlier this year.
WHATโS NEXT?
Protests over the bill are widely expected.
The government, under pressure from Beijing, has prioritised passing the bill into law before the end of this four-year legislative session in July.
Having been mired in a log-jam of legislative procedural battles, voting on the bill got underway on Thursday.
If the bill becomes law and is enforced, constitutional challenges can be expected in courts โ both into the billโs content, and the procedural battles through which it passed.
REUTERS
