China tightens grip on Hong Kong despite 1984 treaty commitments

CHINA is significantly tightening its grip on Hong Kong with the announcement that its parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), will draft a national security legislation that is to come into effect through promulgation, without involving the local legislature. The new Chinese law will include the stationing of mainland security personnel in the former British colony, which is barred by the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, a treaty registered with the United Nations.

Britain, together with Canada and Australia, issued a statement saying they were “deeply concerned” by the development, which would undermine Hong Kong’s guaranteed “high degree of autonomy.”