China's new national security law for Hong Kong is more draconian than initially feared, legal analysts said Wednesday, as they dissected a document granting Beijing unprecedented jurisdiction in the business hub -- and even beyond its borders.

The law was imposed Tuesday, six weeks after it was first announced, in a bid by China to end huge and often violent pro-democracy protests in the semi-autonomous city.

It bypassed Hong Kong's legislature and the wording was kept secret until it came into effect, leaving residents, legal scholars, diplomats and businesses scrambling to decipher what now constitutes a crime.

Beijing says the law will not end political freedoms in a city supposedly guaranteed legal autonomy until 2047.

But it was clear certain political views had become illegal overnight, and alarm quickly spread over a section claiming universal jurisdiction.

"If you've ever said anything that might offend [China] or Hong Kong authorities, stay out of Hong Kong," Donald Clarke, an expert on Chinese law at George Washington University, wrote in an analysis.

A major cause of concern, Clarke said, was Article 38, which states national security offences committed overseas, even by foreigners, can be prosecuted.

"I know of no reason not to think it means what it appears to say: it is asserting extraterritorial jurisdiction over every person on the planet," Clarke wrote.

James To, an opposition lawmaker, told reporters on Wednesday the law could affect "people around the world, people who come for business, for transit, for travel, anyone".

- Independence calls 'illegal' -

The law outlines four offences: subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces to undermine national security.

Analysts said the descriptions of the four crimes were loosely worded, potentially outlawing a host of views and actions.

"The law is very broadly drafted, open to interpretation and is a creature of the mainland legal system," Antony Dapiran, a Hong Kong lawyer who has written books on the city's protest movement, told AFP.

One example of a terror act, for example, is attacking public transport, something protesters often did last year. But it also includes providing support or assistance for such acts.

"This would mean many 'moderate' or peaceful supporters of the protest movement would be caught under the law if the extreme protesters they assisted were to be arrested as terrorists," Dapiran added.

The wording of the secession crime means even peaceful calls for Hong Kong to have greater autonomy or independence is now outlawed.

On Wednesday afternoon police made their first two arrests under the law -- a man and woman found with Hong Kong independence banners.

In a statement, police said calls for independence for Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang or Taiwan were now all deemed illegal.

- Media freedoms at risk? -

Another area that has generated concern is media and academic freedom.

Thanks to its free-speech rules, Hong Kong has for decades served as a regional and international press hub -- a tradition that continued after the handover to China.

The new law orders that China's new national security agency in the city "take necessary measures to strengthen the management" of international news agencies and NGOs, without further elaboration.

"The free press could just be announced as dead in Hong Kong," warned Claudia Mo, a former journalist and now an opposition lawmaker.

She said critical voices could fear speaking to the media, and journalists could start self-censoring.

On the Chinese mainland, the press is state-controlled and foreign reporters are routinely harassed and even expelled for their coverage.

Even Hong Kong's status as a bastion of press freedom has slipped in recent years.

In 2018, a foreign journalist was effectively expelled for hosting a talk with the leader of a then legal but fringe independence party.

Earlier this year China kicked out a group of US journalists in a tit-for-tat spat with Washington.

It also declared the reporters would not be allowed into Hong Kong, despite the city supposedly managing its own immigration.

Hong Kong Bar Association 'gravely concerned' by security law
Hong Kong (AFP) July 2, 2020 - A sweeping new security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing undermines the semi-autonomous city's independent judiciary and stifles freedoms, the city's influential Bar Association has warned.

In a scathing critique, the group detailed how the new law dismantles the legal firewall that has existed between Hong Kong's independent judiciary and China's Communist Party-controlled courts since the 1997 handover.

The legislation outlawing acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces was passed on Tuesday in Beijing, bypassing Hong Kong's legislature, its wording kept secret until it was enacted later that day.

The unprecedented move has sent a wave of fear through the city, sparked international criticism and rattled the legal community in a business hub that has built its reputation on the independence and reliability of its courts.

In a five-page analysis, the Bar Association said the new national security offences were "widely drawn" and "are capable of being applied in a manner that is arbitrary, and that disproportionately interferes with fundamental rights, including the freedom of conscience, expression and assembly".

"In addition to the total absence of meaningful consultation, lawyers, judges, police and Hong Kong residents were given no opportunity to familiarise themselves with the contents of the new law, including the serious criminal offences it creates, before it came into force," the analysis added.

Under a deal ahead of the handover from Britain, authoritarian China guaranteed Hong Kong civil liberties as well as judicial and legislative autonomy until 2047 in a formula known as "One Country, Two Systems".

Critics -- including Britain -- say the new law demolishes that deal, especially as China says it will have jurisdiction over some cases and has empowered its security agents to operate openly inside Hong Kong for the first time.

It has also claimed global jurisdiction, saying the law covers national security offences committed overseas -- even by foreigners.

- Rendition, not extradition -

The Bar Association said the law makes clear "suspects can be removed to face trial in Mainland China" and points out that the process does not have the usual checks and balances of extradition hearings.

Instead, it looks more like rendition -- when a person is simply taken to another jurisdiction.

It noted the law allowed mainland security agents working in Hong Kong to be "above the reach of local law" and said empowering the city's chief executive to appoint judges to oversee national security cases undermined judicial independence.

Local police have been granted wider surveillance powers to monitor suspects, including wiretapping, without a judge's approval, the association added.

It also expressed concern that some national security trials could be heard behind closed doors, without juries, and that Beijing -- not Hong Kong's courts -- has final say interpreting the new law.

The analysis parsed Beijing's description of the four new crimes and how they might outlaw certain views and acts.

The definition of secession, for example, can be committed without violence.

"This gives rise to concern whether this might operate to prohibit mere speech or any peaceful advocacy," the association said.

On Wednesday the first arrests were made under the new law -- most for people carrying flags or leaflets supportive of Hong Kong independence, or chanting slogans.

Terrorist acts were "vaguely defined" and could include people who unknowingly provided material or financial support to someone who later went on to commit an act that is declared terrorist in nature.

Colluding with foreign forces was also "vaguely defined", the association said, covering "accepting a subsidy or support from a foreign organization with a view to carrying out hostile actions against the (Hong Kong government).

"This gives rise to concern whether certain existing activities of academics, NGOs and media organizations which were lawful or not unlawful in the past might now be outlawed by these provisions," the association said.

The bar association is one of Hong Kong's most respected and influential legal associations, representing and regulating the city's barristers.

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