NEWS//Hong Kong takeover

UPDATE (May 28, 2020)

China has approved a plan to rein In Hong Kong. Now many mainland China security practices will extend to Hong Kong. The government is imposing laws that will quash unrest and dissent (New York Times).

China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) opened its spring sessions today (May 22).  Yesterday, Zhang Yesui, NPC spokesman, indicated that the NPC will propose a national security law for Hong Kong

No longer one country, two systems

Beijing's imposition of its security law violates the semi-autonomy Hong Kong was granted when China took over the city in 1997. Over the last two decades the city's relationship with Mainland China has been described as "one country, two systems."  Now that relationship is moving toward "one country, one system."

Bill Bishop, the editor of Sinocism, writes, "This move affirms that Hong Kong as we knew it is gone and rule of law is now rule by law, with the CCP determining what the laws are and how they will be enforced."

Additional reactions

Other news sources inside China and beyond offer their own analysis.

South China Morning Post A Beijing source said the new law would ban all seditious activities aimed at toppling the central government and external interference in Hong Kong’s affairs. It would also target terrorist acts in Hong Kong.

Global Times The proposed legislation indicates the central government’s firm determination to fix the loopholes within the legislative system of the HKSAR while intervention and stigmatization from external forces and local separatists continue to erode the foundation of the South China city

Reuters President Trump, …told reporters at the White House that “nobody knows yet” the details of China’s plan. “If it happens we’ll address that issue very strongly,” Trump said, without elaborating.

The People's Daily The Hong Kong protesters forced Beijing's hand and they have no other choice now, and the bill is needed to safeguard the one country two systems.

Financial Times Pro-Beijing legislators command a majority in Legco (Hong Kong's Legislative Council). But Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, still failed to pass a controversial extradition bill in June last year that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be tried in China for certain crimes in the face of a public uproar. "Passing [national security legislation] in Legco is not an option now,” said one member of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing establishment, who asked not to be named. “Waiting any longer is also not an option.”