by Li Ping
While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Hong Kong Communist Party rush through the forgery legalization process of the National Security Law (NSL), the United States Senate unanimously passed the bipartisan Hong Kong Autonomy Act. The legislation would impose mandatory sanctions on persons or entities that undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy or erode the basic freedoms promised to Hongkongers. The US and the European Union (EU) have also reached a consensus to set up a bilateral dialogue on China-related issues. The CCP's proposed enactment of the NSL in Hong Kong has strongly violated international law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution and China’s legislative procedures. The US and EU have engaged other democratic nations including Britain, Australia, Canada, Japan and others to create a united front against China. The imposter noble and righteous image can no longer deceive the world; the glory days for China are over. The CCP attempted to use the NSL as a tool to seize Hong Kong’s governance but instead, shot itself in the foot and ultimately may cause an earthquake in the CCP’s autocratic regime.
The CCP has called two National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) meetings within a month with the obvious intention to quickly pass the NSL. The CCP openly destroys “One Country, Two Systems” and violates human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong. It also blatantly clamored that Hong Kong has no weight in this matter. The CCP has committed four evildoing and angered the gods. These capital crimes will not go unpunished.
First, the NSL goes against the provisions in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. Although the CCP claims the declaration is nothing but a historical document without any practical significance nor has any legal binding in an attempt to avoid treading on international treaties, it has in fact already trampled on international law. Its actions will only increase the severity of the sanctions imposed by the international community.
Second, the legislative procedure of the NSL has violated Article 18 of the Basic Law that stipulates before the NPC can add or delete laws in Annex III, the NPCSC should consult the Hong Kong government and the Basic Law Committee, and Article 23 of the Basic Law that provides Hong Kong the constitutional duty to enact laws. The set up of a new national security commission in Hong Kong, the appointment of central government advisers, the appointment of designated judges to preside over cases, Beijing’s right to overrule the city on certain “very few” cases and other sinister clauses all breach provisions of the Basic Law: Article 17, the special administrative region shall be vested with legislative power; Article 19, Hong Kong shall be vested with independent judicial power and final adjudication; Article 22, no interference in the city’s internal affairs; and Article 85, the courts shall exercise judicial power independently, free from any interference.
Third, China’s Legislation Law stipulates that, all legal cases listed in the NPCSC should be deliberated three times before judgment is to be made (Article 29). If there are serious disagreements or conflicts of interests, there should be a hearing (Article 36). When a legislation is to be drafted, has been drafted or if there are any changes, it should be announced to the public who should be able to have at least 30 days for consultations (Article 37). But the self-defined “ordinary matters” and “other matters” have become the magic being used to get around these rules under the party leader’s legislation procedures.
Last but not least, Article 29 from China’s Organic Law of the National People's Congress states, the NPCSC Meeting should be held bimonthly, usually in the even months. However, now that CCP urgently needs the rubber stamp, two meetings have been held in one month instead of one in two months.
In order to exclude the legislative process of Hong Kong’s NSL from the “ordinary matters” and therefore “legal”, CCP and the pro-CCP camp have been frequently forging legislative sessions: replacing hearings with forums; claiming the majority Hongkongers support the law in order to shorten the time period of public consultation; reducing the number of Standing Committees’ review meetings etc.. If getting a group of their bootlickers to clap and cheer equals public consultation, then they can surely gather as many people to support as many times as they want. If pro-CCP camp’s claim that 3 millions people (equivalent to 45.8% of the total number of adult citizens) have signed to support NSL legislation means Hongkongers in general are in favor of the legislation, since the latest poll shows 57% of the interviewees are against it, does it then mean Hongkongers are in general against the legislation?
In fact, regardless of how hard CCP and the pro-CCP camp try to fake the “legal” legislative procedures of Hong Kong’s NSL, it would be a hard push for them to gain any trust from the international societies from this point onwards. The US Congress’ unanimous passing of “The Hong Kong Autonomy Act” is a serious warning for the CCP and pro-CCP government officials, and those pro-CCP businesses and organizations. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Josep Borrell, EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy have agreed to start a dialogue mechanism to fight together against CCP, which shows that CCP can arrogantly strip Hongkongers of their right to speak, but the global trend of anti-CCP is no longer reversible.
Even if Hong Kong’s NSL is the last straw on the donkey’s back for CCP, the party’s collapse will not happen overnight, but its mask of greatness, gloriousness and righteousness has been completely ripped off through the forging of a “legal” process for the law: greatness, is simply a one-party despotism; glory, is simply not knowing shame; righteousness, is simply forgeries of legality and public opinion.