Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Wednesday told Fox Business that China’s new national security law “signals the beginning … of the end of Hong Kong as a global center for finance and commerce.”
The law, which was drafted behind closed doors in Beijing without the input of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, was passed by the Chinese National People’s Congress on Tuesday, bypassing the city’s local legislature. The law criminalizes "acts of secession, subversion of state power, terrorist activities, and collusion with foreign or external forces to endanger national security.” The maximum sentence for these crimes is life in prison.
“Anyone at this point that travels to Hong Kong, whether it's an American businessman or Canadian businessman or anything for that matter, is out of their minds,” Rubio said on Wednesday. “What this basically says now, that law now says that whether you’re a Chinese citizen or resident in Hong Kong or not, if you have said things or done things critical of the Chinese government and you step foot in Hong Kong, they now reserve the right to arrest you. Being arrested by Chinese authorities is not like being arrested by American authorities — you can be put in indefinite detention, obviously it's not going to be a real trial.”
He added, “In fact, there are two Canadian businessmen right now who are being charged with espionage and it’s being used as retribution against Canada for the arrest and attempt to extradite one of the leaders of Huawei, so obviously a very dangerous development here, but I think it signals the beginning, if not the acceleration of the end of Hong Kong as a global center for finance and commerce.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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