Four months after releasing a public "consultation document" outlining its plans for stringent internal security laws, Hong Kong leaders today put forward the actual legislation and asked the territory's Legislative Council to pass it swiftly.
The changes from the consultation document appear to have appeased Hong Kong's politically powerful business interests, who had initially joined democracy activists in opposing the legislation.
Among other changes, the government decided to exempt foreign nationals from treason charges, a move that removes this threat for several hundred thousand affluent residents here who have obtained citizenship elsewhere, most often Britain or Canada, as a precaution against any clampdown by Beijing.
So what? The mainlanders have just split their take into two: first get the regular peons, divide them from the foreigners, then tackle the foreigners in the second go around.
Critics here have contended that the bill is too vague and that the government has shown an almost Orwellian tendency to portray potential limits on civil liberties as benign attempts to preserve social stability and discourage terrorism.
The government tried again to be reassuring today. Mrs. Ip and other officials held a news conference in front of a large blue background on which was written, in large white letters, a list of liberties that Hong Kong residents now enjoy, beginning with, "Freedom of the Press," "Freedom of Publication," "Freedom of Association," and so forth.
Surprising... is that a hitlist?
