While more about the draft of the Hong Kong version of national security law is being revealed, public attention is being diverted to its details. People seem to have accepted the implementation of the evil law, falling right into the trap devised by communist China.

In fact, this is the kind of negotiation tactics so commonly deployed by communist China. To start with, they will crack the whip by putting forward an absolutely unreasonable proposal. During the negotiation process, they will take a very uncompromising stance, even though the counterpart makes concessions. Until the latter becomes desperate, communist China will then conclude the bargain by conceding slightly. The terms of the final deal will certainly be very much above the communist China’s bottom line, whereas the opposite party will, ridiculously indeed, count itself as a winner for having cut losses.

There are two major objectives of the Hong Kong version of national security law implemented by communist China. First of all, it is to create a precedent of unilaterally making a law for the city that overrides the existing laws of the Special Administration Region (SAR) and that the right to interpret it lies with the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC). Put it simply, it completely overthrows the disposition of the Basic Law, paving the way for more NPCSC interpretations and manipulations in the future.

Unfortunately, it seems communist China has got their way so far. Hong Kong people’s attention has been detracted from opposing the evil law itself to discussing the details of it. It is nothing more than a forced excuse to justify such an arbitrary law making with Hong Kong’s postponed legislation of the Article 23 of the Basic Law. In fact, evidence of an intensified intervention by communist China has long been palpable. Back in the “White Paper” of 2014, the notion of “comprehensive jurisdiction” was introduced. More recently, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and Liaison Office of the Central People's Government have stepped up to establish themselves as the “supreme sovereigns” of the city, with the pro-establishment camp banging the drum along the way.

The second and probably the more important objective of communist China’s implementation of the Hong Kong version of national security law is to realize comprehensive jurisdiction over the city. It signifies the introduction of a distorted form of “one country, two systems” in which communist China takes full control of the executives, legislature and judiciary of Hong Kong. In terms of executives, a national security commission will be instituted, setting aside the existing administrative framework. It will “monitor” and “supervise” the SAR government’s efforts in safeguarding national security. Furthermore, Beijing is supposed to retain jurisdiction over a “very few” cases. Legislatively, as aforementioned, the NPCSC is there to initiate its own law and take over the role of the Legislative Council whenever communist China deems necessary. And as far as the judiciary is concerned, the proposed national security commission can exercise jurisdiction over Hong Kong, opening up a huge room for communist China to manipulate and making extradition a real possibility.

Once the two major objectives mentioned above are accomplished, even though all the devils in the details of the national security law are taken out, Hong Kong is doomed to perdition anyway. That is why all of us should stay focused and stand firm against the evil law, upholding the constitutional rights we are entitled under the “one country, two systems”. Otherwise, things can only go from bad to worse as communist China will push even further by asserting comprehensive jurisdiction over Hong Kong.

(Martin Lee is a barrister and founder of Hong Kong's Democratic Party.)

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