The Chinese government will begin to launch new national security legislation against Hong Kong that may wipe out what state-run media has called a "cancer" of pro-independence attitudes within the territory, according to The Globe and Mail.
While the new rules haven't been spelled out just yet, Beijing will likely change the culture of Hong Kong, which has exercised freedoms of assembly and speech that aren't present throughout the rest of China.
“It will make Hong Kong like mainland China,” said Emily Lau, a pro-democracy politician in the city. She cautioned that it could “take away our freedoms, rule of law and personal safety.”
Democracy activists in Hong Kong pointed out the city's liberties have evaporated under mainland China's rule. The Chinese government consistently puts protestors in prison for demanding rights promised under the constitution. Activists said China hasn't made inroads like this through Hong Kong since it took control over the territory from Britain in 1997.
China’s central Xinhua News Agency published an editorial on Thursday justifying Beijing's incursion into Hong Kong, citing the city's “turmoil” and collusion with outside forces and a pro-independence push.
“We must take a zero-tolerance attitude to this cancer on the body of the country and the nation and be determined to eradicate it completely,” Xinhua wrote. The handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997 “made Hong Kong people regain the dignity and glory of being Chinese,” Xinhua wrote, arguing that the city’s prosperity and stability depend on eradicating secessionist forces.
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