The new bill includes long prison sentences for crimes such as treason and longer sentences for acts considered sedition.
The Hong Kong government has released the draft of a new national security law for the Chinese territory after Chief Executive John Lee said it should be passed “at full speed”.
The territory's Legislative Council began debating the National Security Safeguarding Bill, as it is officially known, at 11:00 a.m. (03:00 GMT).
The bill, about 212 pages (PDF), reveals new laws on treason, espionage, external interference, state secrets and sedition. Those found guilty of treason could face up to life in prison for treason and 20 years for espionage.
Sentences for sedition, currently handled under a colonial-era law, have also been increased (from two to seven years) and will also cover incitement to hatred against the Chinese Communist Party and the country's socialist system of government.
Police will also be allowed to detain suspects for two weeks before charging them, compared to the current 48 hours.
In a statement, Lee urged passing the bill “at full speed” to allow the territory to move forward.
Hong Kong “needs to enact Article 23 of the Basic Law legislation as soon as possible; the sooner the better. Completing legislative work even one day earlier means that we will be able to more effectively safeguard national security one day earlier,” he said in a statement.
“The Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region] “Then it will be able to focus its efforts on developing the economy, improving people's livelihoods and maintaining Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability.”
The bill comes before lawmakers just over a week after a month-long public consultation process on the bill ended.
The government said it received some 13,147 submissions and that 98.6 percent “indicated their support for the legislation and made positive comments.” It also held consultations with select groups involving around 3,000 people. Hong Kong has a population of more than 7 million people.
The bill is unlikely to encounter significant opposition in the Legislative Council.
Pro-Beijing candidates swept the latest polls in December 2021 after changes to electoral rules reduced the number of directly elected seats and ensured only those considered loyal to China could compete. The chamber has no opposition members.
Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets the previous year calling for more democracy in protests that sometimes turned violent.
Beijing's broadly worded law bypassed the local legislature and punished acts deemed secession, subversion, “terrorism” and collusion with foreign forces with penalties of up to life in prison.
Human rights groups say the law has “decimated” the territory's long-standing freedoms, which Beijing had promised to respect for at least 50 years after regaining sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997.
Thousands of people have been arrested, media outlets and civil society groups have closed, and many pro-democracy politicians have gone into exile.
Media mogul Jimmy Lai, owner of the Apple Daily tabloid, is currently on trial in one of the most high-profile national security cases. Apple Daily was shut down in 2021 after police raided its offices, Lai and other employees were arrested, and its assets were frozen.
