Hong Kong Security Laws

       New Measures Passed What to Know Financial Image in Jeopardy China’s Tightening Grip A Crushed Opposition

       Advertisement

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

       Supported by

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

       Where Are Hong Kong’s Leading Pro-Democracy Figures Now?

       The city enacted tough new security legislation with little public outcry, partly because those who would have opposed it were either in jail or in exile.

       Share full article

       Read in app

       A protest against the extradition law in Hong Kong in June 2019.Credit...Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times

       By Tiffany May

       Reporting from Hong Kong

       March 20, 2024Updated 8:35 a.m. ET

       Get it sent to your inbox.

       In 2019, Hong Kong erupted into the most stunning expression of public anger with Beijing in decades. Protesters broke into the legislature and vandalized it. They bought full-page advertisements in international newspapers, criticizing the government. Lawmakers hurled unsavory objects in meetings to protest unpopular bills.

       In the years since then, China has waged an expansive crackdown on Hong Kong to crush the opposition. Beijing directly imposed a national security law on the city in 2020 that gave the authorities a powerful tool to round up critics, including a prominent pro-democracy media tycoon.

       So when Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing lawmakers passed a new security law on Tuesday that expanded the authorities’ power even more, the vote was virtually unopposed. The most vocal pro-democracy activists and lawmakers are now either in prison or self-imposed exile.

       Advertisement

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

       Chow Hang Tung, lawyer, in jail

       Image

       Chow Hang Tung in 2021.Credit...Vincent Yu/Associated Press

       Chow Hang Tung was a human rights lawyer representing other activists on trial for national security offenses, until she herself was arrested in 2021.

       Now, she says, she had no other option but to “become a columnist,” writing open letters from jail, which are then posted online by her friends. She has also filed several legal appeals, writing statements to the court by hand because she had no access to a computer or the internet.

       Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

       Tiffany May is a reporter based in Hong Kong, covering the politics, business and culture of the city and the broader region. More about Tiffany May

       Share full article

       Read in app

       Advertisement

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT