National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill

Hong Kong's new national security law came into force on Saturday, putting into immediate effect tough penalties of up to life imprisonment for crimes including treason and insurrection.

The law — commonly referred to as Article 23 — targets five categories of national security crimes and was swiftly passed by Hong Kong's opposition-free legislature on Tuesday.

Hong Kong will create its own national security law "as soon as possible", city leader John Lee said Tuesday, adding insurrection and other crimes not covered by existing legislation imposed by Beijing four years ago.

Massive pro-democracy protests rocked the finance hub in 2019, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets to call for greater freedoms.

Hong Kong jailed five speech therapists for sedition on Saturday over a series of illustrated children's books that portrayed the city's democracy supporters as sheep defending their village from wolves.

Hong Kong's national security law has created a "human rights emergency", Amnesty International said on June 30, a year after China imposed it on the city to crush a pro-democracy movement.

China’s Deputy National Security Minister left his country via Hong Kong and sought refuge in the US

"Our daily lives are getting tougher as China continues to put pressure on Taiwan to accept its political conditions, conditions that would make Taiwan a future Hong Kong," Wu told US Secretary of Health Alex Azar.
Azar's visit to Taiwan was condemned by Beijing, which assessed that it endangers peace.

Britain's foreign minister said he has spoken to "Five Eyes" allies about potentially opening their doors to Hong Kongers if Beijing's plans to impose a national security law on the city sparks an exodus.    

A measure calling for "powerful" steps to curb Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement was submitted to China's rubber-stamp parliament on May 22, a move expected to fan fresh protests in the semi-autonomous financial hub.