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Speaking at a forum about the law, attended also by the city
leader John Lee and other officials, Xia Baolong, the director
of China's Hong Kong and Macao Work Office, said various forms
of soft resistance continue to emerge in new forms and external
forces have never ceased their intervention in Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong has transformed from chaos to order. But just as a
tree desires stillness, the wind continues to blow," Xia said.
The Beijing and Hong Kong governments deemed the law necessary
to maintain the city's stability following anti-government
protests in 2019. Under the law, many leading pro-democracy
activists, including Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-defunct Apple
Daily newspaper, were prosecuted. Dozens of civil society groups
disbanded.
This month, authorities have stepped up their crackdown,
including charging young activist Joshua Wong, who was already
sentenced last year over a subversion case, under the law for
the second time and targeting a mobile game app. Last week,
China’s national security authorities in Hong Kong and the
city’s police launched their first publicly known joint
operation, raiding the homes of six people on suspicion of
colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security.
Critics say the political changes indicate that the
Western-style civil liberties Beijing promised to keep intact
when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997
are shrinking.
But Xia said the law only targeted an extremely small number of
people who severely endanger national security. He also sought
to allay concerns about Hong Kong's openness and international
position.
He insisted that normal international exchanges do not violate
Hong Kong's national security law but rather are protected by
it.
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