Hong Kong: The chief of Hong Kong John Lee mentioned Tuesday (1 July) The metropolis has turn out to be safer and extra aggressive because it marks its twenty eighth yr below Chinese domination, though critics together with the EU have denounced the usage of a “repressive” security legislation.
The former British colony was delivered to China in 1997 below a “One nation’s governance mannequin, two techniques”, which assured key freedoms and a excessive diploma of autonomy not having fun with the mainland.
July 1 in Hong Kong had been marked in earlier years by occasions, however the authorities made dissent after huge and typically violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Lee mentioned that “excessive -level security to safeguard prime quality improvement” was an absolute precedence for its administration, noting the necessity to combine into the Chinese financial mannequin.
The metropolis of this week has additionally marked the fifth anniversary of Beijing’s taxation of an unlimited legislation on nationwide safety, in line with which 76 individuals have been sentenced thus far, imposed after the 2019 protests.
The Lee authorities has issued its personal separate safety legislation in 2024 that the authorities affirm that it’s essential to revive the order.
“We reconstructed a protected Hong Kong,” Lee mentioned in a speech.
However, the European Union declared on Monday “the repressive use of the nationwide safety legislation has undermined belief within the state of legislation and within the worldwide fame of Hong Kong”.
“The European Union regrets the truth that additional nationwide safety legal guidelines have launched new crimes, elevated penalties and have additional licensed the safety authorities,” he mentioned in a observe.
