Hong Kong Passes Article 23 National Security Law
deadline.comHong Kong’s lawmakers have unanimously passed a national security legislation, which will come into effect on March 23. The national security bill, also known as Article 23, covers five categories of crimes in Hong Kong, which include a total of 39 new national security crimes.
These categories consist of treason, insurrection, sabotage endangering national security, external interference in the territory’s affairs, as well as the theft of state secrets and espionage.
The first draft of Article 23 ran up to 212 pages and was ushered through Hong Kong’s Legislative Council at the request of the city’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and debated over in just 11 days.
Article 23 is the second such security legislation since 2020, when the first national security bill was imposed by China. The bill was used to jail pro-democracy activists who had led widespread street protests a year earlier.
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