HONG KONG • Nearly 200 political figures from around the world have decried Beijing's proposed national security law for Hong Kong, including 17 members of the US Congress, as international tensions grow over the proposal to set up Chinese government intelligence bases in the territory.
In a joint statement last Saturday organised by former Hong Kong governor Christopher Patten and former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind, 186 law and policy leaders said the move was a "comprehensive assault on the city's autonomy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms" and "flagrant breach" of the Sino-British Joint Declaration that returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997.
"If the international community cannot trust Beijing to keep its word when it comes to Hong Kong, people will be reluctant to take its word on other matters," they wrote.
China said it will introduce a law to prevent and punish any acts of secession, subversion or terrorism in the city that threaten national security.
Pro-democracy activists say the move endangers the future of "one country, two systems", the principle by which the Asian financial hub is overseen by Beijing.
The legislation comes as ties between Washington and Beijing fray, with US President Donald Trump blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic.
US officials say the legislation would be bad for the economies of both Hong Kong and China and could jeopardise the territory's special status in US law. China has dismissed other countries' complaints as meddling.
Some of Mr Trump's fellow Republicans - Senator Marco Rubio, acting chairman of the Intelligence Committee, and Senator Ted Cruz - signed the statement.
Democratic signatories included Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Eliot Engel, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Mr Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
Forty-four members of Britain's House of Commons and eight members of its House of Lords also signed the statement, alongside figures from across Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
