Hong Kong’s security minister intends to turn the international financial hub into a police state with plans to set up a dedicated unit to enforce the new national security law, said the city’s pro-democracy lawmakers.

The criticisms came after Secretary for Security John Lee revealed that the new unit, capable of gathering intelligence and investigation as well as equipped with an action team, will be established under the command of Chris Tang, the police commissioner. Preparation work including “the examination of resources, manpower and supporting equipment had already begun,” he told the South China Morning Post in an interview, and the new unit will be ready to work “on the first day” the law is enacted.

Pro-democracy lawmakers said the government’s plan came as a shock as details of the new national security law customized for Hong Kong have yet to be unveiled. China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress in Beijing has rubber-stamped the passing of the plan to enact the law last month but details of the law are yet to be drafted. The new law will prohibit acts and activities of secession, subversion, terrorism, and foreign interference in the city. It is expected to be passed within June, bypassing Hong Kong’s legislature.

Lawmaker Claudia Mo said Lee’s statement was a further blow on the international community’s confidence in the city’s status as a financial hub. “Lee is very pleased to make Hong Kong look like a police state. This does nothing good to our city,” said Mo.

The law has already sparked fear among not only the citizens of Hong Kong but also the financial sector. According to a report in the Financial Times, hedge funds based in the city have begun making exit plans to move their operations to Singapore or elsewhere amid the implementation of the national security law. Financial advisors were worried that the tightened control over freedom of expression will severely impair the circulation of objective information as “propaganda comes into play in investment decisions.”

Wu Chi-wai, lawmaker and chair of Democratic Party, called Lee’s plan “very ridiculous.” He said the Hong Kong government has been telling people that it did not have the details of the national security law. “But now you [Lee] are telling people that a new unit will be set up to enforce the national security law. This means you have been lying to the people of Hong Kong,” said Wu.

He also questioned Lee’s intention of rushing to set up this new unit under the police force. In the interview with SCMP conducted around the first anniversary of the ongoing anti-government protests sparked by the extradition bill, Lee said he had “no regrets” over the introduction of the bill, saying that it was done “for justice.”

The bill was eventually shelved amid strong protests, which was morphed into a large-scale pro-democracy movement. Wu said that Lee, like the city’s chief executive Carrie Lam, did not reflect on the lessons learnt from the past year’s unrest. “This shows that [Lee] does not care about Hong Kong and the people of Hong Kong. He only knows how to please the Chinese Communist Party,” Wu said.

Lee did not elaborate on how the police will work with mainland’s security agents after the law is enacted. He said that the setting up of the new unit will draw references from Macau’s national security commission.

He did not address whether or how mainland agents will operate in Hong Kong. According to the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, mainland law enforcement units are not allowed to operate in Hong Kong. But he said that mainland authorities have solid experience and the “protection of national security will have to come from the national level.”

In response to Apple Daily’s enquiry, the Security Bureau said that the plan to set up the new unit to enforce the national security law was to collaborate with NPC’s decision to build a healthy system to guard national security in Hong Kong. The bureau did not comment on whether it has evidence on foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs or what information the police referred while setting up the new unit.

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