Hong Kong (CNN)The US State Department has issued a warning to China over the announcement by its rubber-stamp parliament that a new national security law in Hong Kong will be on the agenda at its upcoming meeting, a move likely to fuel further anger and protests in the semi-autonomous city.
The law, which is expected to ban sedition, secession and subversion of the central government in Beijing, will be introduced through a rarely used constitutional method that could effectively bypass Hong Kong's legislature.
The move could enable Beijing to crack down on anti-government protests in Hong Kong and has raised further fears that the city's autonomy is being eroded just as demonstrations begin to resume following a lull due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ahead of the annual National People's Congress (NPC) meeting, which starts Friday, spokesman Zhang Yesui announced that this year's session would review a proposal titled: "Establishment and Improvement of the Legal System and Implementation Mechanism for the Safeguarding of National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region."
"National security is the bedrock underpinning a country's stability. Safeguarding national security serves the fundamental interests of all Chinese people, including our HK compatriots," Zhang told a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.
He emphasized that Hong Kong is an inseparable part of China and, "in light of new circumstances and need," it is "highly necessary" for the NPC to exercise its constitutional power to deliberate such a proposal, adding that further details would be revealed Friday.
On Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus warned that "any effort to impose national security legislation that does not reflect the will of the people of Hong Kong" would be met with international condemnation.
Ortagus noted that the State Department was delaying its submission to Congress of the annual Hong Kong Policy Act Report in order "to account for any additional actions that Beijing may be contemplating in the run-up to and during the National People's Congress that would further undermine Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy."
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