The law, approved in Beijing with speed and secrecy and signed off by Xi Jinping, will tighten the Communist Party’s grip on Hong Kong after last year’s protests.
China passed a contentious new law for Hong Kong on Tuesday that would empower the authorities to crack down on opposition to Beijing, risking deeper rifts with Western governments that have warned about the erosion of freedoms in the territory.
The law’s swift approval in Beijing signaled the urgency that the Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, has given to expanding control in Hong Kong after the territory was convulsed by pro-democracy protests last year.
Details of the law had not been disclosed as of Tuesday evening but Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, said it would come into effect later in the night.
The law underscores Beijing’s resolve to achieve a political sea change in Hong Kong, a former British colony with its own legal system and civil liberties unseen in mainland China. It could be used to stifle protests like those that last year evolved into an increasingly confrontational, and sometimes violent, challenge to Chinese rule.
The legislation dealt a blow to Hong Kong’s opposition forces on Tuesday even before it went into effect. Several prominent young activists bowed out of politics, a few groups disbanded, and some businesses distanced themselves from the pro-democracy movement. Opposition politicians quickly criticized the law for its power to silence dissent.
“It’s meant to suppress and oppress, and to frighten and intimidate Hong Kongers,” Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy lawmaker, said. “And they just might succeed in that.”
The Chinese legislature approved the law a day before July 1, the politically charged anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997, which regularly draws pro-democracy protests. On the anniversary last year, a huge, peaceful demonstration gave way to violence when a small group of activists broke into the Hong Kong legislature, smashing glass walls and spray-painting slogans on walls.
Mr. Xi signed off on the legislation on Tuesday, according to announcements carried by China’s official Xinhua News Agency. The vote by a top legislative body, taken less than two weeks after the lawmakers first formally considered the legislation, was unanimous, the agency said, and the law would take effect once issued publicly.
Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s representative to the legislative group in China that reviewed the law, said the tough measures were aimed at intimidating would-be offenders.
“Those who have stirred up trouble and broken this type of law in the past will hopefully watch themselves in the future,” Mr. Tam said in a television interview. “If they continue to defy the law, they will bear the consequences.”
Mr. Xi has driven the security law through despite the challenges his government faces with the coronavirus pandemic, a lingering economic downturn and visa bans from the Trump administration aimed at Chinese officials involved in Hong Kong policy.
“Xi Jinping is looking at more comprehensive control over Hong Kong, and the national security law will go a long way to achieving that control,” Willy Lam, a commentator on Chinese politics and an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in an interview. “It will be a new ballgame, affecting schools, affecting the media and many other arenas of Hong Kong life.”
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The security law was approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, an elite arm of China’s party-controlled legislature, in a process that drew criticism for its unusual secrecy.
Breaking from normal procedure, the committee did not release a draft of the law for public comment. Hong Kong’s activists, legal scholars and officials were left to debate or defend the bill based on details released by China’s state news media earlier this month.
“The fact that the Chinese authorities have now passed this law without the people of Hong Kong being able to see it tells you a lot about their intentions,” said Joshua Rosenzweig, the head of Amnesty International’s China team. “Their aim is to govern Hong Kong through fear from this point forward.”
The law calls for Hong Kong’s government to establish a new agency to oversee enforcement of the new rules. Beijing will create its own separate security arm in Hong Kong, empowered to investigate special cases and collect intelligence.
Mrs. Lam, Hong Kong’s top official, sought to defend the law in a recorded speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, saying it would target only a minority of people and make the territory safer for most residents. She said last year’s unrest had threatened China’s security and accused foreign governments critical of the legislation of holding double standards.
“No central government could turn a blind eye to such threats to sovereignty and national security as well as risks of subversion of state power,” Mrs. Lam said.
On Tuesday, a few dozen pro-Beijing supporters wearing white shirts and blue caps gathered in a park to celebrate the passage of the law. They celebrated by waving large Chinese flags as they uncorked bottles of sparkling wine and drank from plastic cups.
Critics say that the new security agencies and politically shaded categories of crime, such as “inciting separatism,” could send a chill across Hong Kong society.
“Potentially, the security law penetrates a lot of activities that contribute to the vibrancy of Hong Kong’s civil society and the character of this international city and financial center,” said Cora Chan, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong who has studied China’s drive for security legislation.
At least two groups that have called for Hong Kong to become an independent state said they would stop operating in the city. Such groups remain in the minority in Hong Kong, but have drawn government scrutiny. Activists are also worried that the law could target those who peacefully call for true autonomy for the territory, as opposed to independence.
“They are doing whatever it takes to crack down on dissent and opposition here. It’s just unthinkable in the year 2020,” said Ms. Mo, the pro-democracy lawmaker. “This is a huge departure from civilization.”
Four senior members of Demosisto, a political organization in Hong Kong that has drawn disaffected young people, announced that they were quitting the group. They included Joshua Wong, a leader of the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations known as the Umbrella Movement. The group later said it would disband.
“From now on, #Hongkong enters a new era of reign of terror,” Mr. Wong wrote on Twitter. Announcing his decision to leave Demosisto in a post on Facebook, he said: “I will continue to hold fast to my home — Hong Kong, until they silence and obliterate me from this land.”
Administrators of chat groups used by protesters on Telegram, a popular app, sent messages urging users not to panic but also said that they should purge their devices of data, contacts and photos should they join any future protests.
The chill spread even to some businesses that have openly supported the democracy movement. The Lung Mun Cafe, a well-known Cantonese diner that provided free meals to student protesters last year, said on Tuesday that it would no longer be affiliated with the yellow economy, so named because of the color of umbrellas that demonstrators once used to defend themselves against streams of tear gas.
“Lung Mun Cafe has more or less accompanied the people of Hong Kong on this ‘path against tyranny,’” Cheung Chun-kit, the owner of the cafe chain, said in a statement posted on Facebook. But he explained that he was pulling out of the yellow economy because “the national security law has made me re-examine my path this year.”
The city’s police force has moved quickly to stop peaceful protests against the security law in recent days, arresting dozens of people, including 53 demonstrators on Sunday. On Tuesday, a small group of protesters gathered in a luxury mall in Central, a downtown district, and chanted: “We will fight till our last breath!”
The police have denied applications from three groups to hold protest marches on Wednesday, the anniversary of the handover, making it the first time the authorities have refused to allow a demonstration on that date. Some opposition lawmakers and democracy advocates have urged people to take to the streets despite the ban.
“The July 1 march tomorrow will show that we will absolutely not accept this evil national security law,” Wu Chi-wai, a pro-democracy lawmaker, said on Tuesday. “Even if they try to crush us, we will use all kinds of ways and methods to ensure that Hong Kong people’s voices and opinions can be expressed.”
The Hong Kong government is required to introduce national security legislation under the Basic Law, the city’s constitution, but such legislation has long been seen as deeply unpopular. The government’s attempt to do so in 2003 foundered after a protest by nearly 500,000 people, and successive local administrations have been reluctant to revisit the matter.
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A survey of 1,002 respondents by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute in mid-June that was commissioned by Reuters found that more than half were opposed to the security legislation, while just over a third supported it. But backing for the demonstrations had also weakened to 51 percent, according to the survey, down from 58 percent in a poll in March.
Concerns have grown over reports that the law would introduce hefty prison sentences for vaguely defined political crimes.
In pushing through the legislation, Mr. Xi has asserted that the Chinese central authorities have the power to prescribe security laws for the territory. That argument has been denounced by legal scholars in Hong Kong, who say that Beijing is overreaching.
China has also drawn criticism from other governments, including the Group of 7 leading industrialized democracies, who have called on China to abandon the law.
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The Trump administration has said that the United States would put visa restrictions on Chinese officials deemed to have undermined Hong Kong’s relative autonomy, though it did not name any officials. On Monday, the United States also restricted exports of American defense equipment and some high-technology products to Hong Kong.
In Beijing, Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, has said China would impose tit-for-tat visa restrictions on Americans “with egregious conduct related to Hong Kong issues.” He denounced the Trump administration’s sanctions on Hong Kong on Tuesday, saying, “Intimidation will never work on China.”
Austin Ramzy, Elaine Yu and Nick Bruce contributed reporting. Claire Fu contributed research.
