Hong Kong must choose “the lesser of two evils”, American retaliation or a foreign investment exodus from an “unstable society” that lacks a security law, a former justice secretary has argued in the wake of the United States declaring the city is no longer autonomous.
The move by the US, which threatens Hong Kong’s long-standing special trading status and preferential economic treatment, followed a mass protest across the city on Wednesday. More than 360 people were arrested while protesting against the security law and a contentious national anthem bill being debated by city lawmakers.
Leung added that local courts held jurisdiction over matters other than national defence, diplomacy and other issues specifically reserved for the central government, and believed there was no need to set up a special branch to hear security cases. “Our existing structures can deal with them,” she said.
Leung added that acts which “subvert the Hong Kong government with the aim to subvert the central government” would fall foul of the national security law, saying this had to be considered when looking at potential cases involving actions intended to paralyse the Legislative Council or rejecting the budget.
“The most extreme thing the US can do is to abolish Hong Kong’s peg to the US dollar … but I don’t think they will go that far,” he said. The former student leader, who rose to fame during the 2014 Occupy protests, added he thought it unlikely Hong Kong would lose all preferential treatment.
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