Hong Kong proposes new security law to follow China’s crackdown

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Good morning. Hong Kong has unveiled details of a proposed new national security law that analysts warned would further curb civil freedoms in the city and damage its status as an international financial hub.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee said the legislation targeting acts of espionage, treason and foreign political influence would ensure stability in the Chinese territory and safeguard against geopolitical tensions. “The threat to national security is real,” he said.

The proposed measure is on top of a national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 in the wake of anti-government protests. That law targets broadly defined crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers.

The reach of the new legislation was “very broad”, said Thomas Kellogg, a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington. “Such provisions could further damage Hong Kong’s standing as a global hub, one that is open for business,” he said. Read the full story.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on:

• Economic data: Hong Kong releases gross domestic product data, which is expected to show the city’s economy expanded at a rate of just over 3 per cent in 2023.

• US interest rate decision: The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave benchmark rates unchanged. But will Fed chair Jay Powell hint at cuts on the horizon?

• Results: Boeing, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Nomura Holdings, Novo Nordisk and Samsung Electronics report earnings.

Five more top stories

1. A Pakistani court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan to 10 years in prison just days before the country’s general election. Khan’s latest conviction stems from allegations he violated state secrecy laws when he waved a diplomatic cable at a public rally in 2022. His party called the conviction a pretext to prevent Khan from staging a comeback. Here’s what analysts said about the conviction.

2. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to replace his top general in what would be the biggest shake-up of Ukraine’s military command since Russia’s full-scale invasion began two years ago. Zelenskyy on Monday offered Valeriy Zaluzhny a new role as a defence adviser but the general refused, according to people familiar with the discussions. Here’s why Zaluzhny’s removal could cause an uproar within Ukraine’s military.

3. Hamas said it was “studying” a proposal for a six-week pause in its war with Israel that would be used to free hostages held in Gaza, in return for the release of Palestinians prisoners and the delivery of more aid into the besieged strip. Here’s what we know about the negotiations and the obstacles to a deal.

• More on the Israel-Hamas war: Israeli commandos disguised as Arab doctors and patients killed three Palestinian men after entering a hospital in the occupied West Bank, with the Israeli military claiming they were planning future attacks.

• Biden weighs options: Sunday’s drone strike that killed three American service members raised the stakes in terms of Washington’s involvement in the Middle East and highlighted the struggles of US policy in the region.

4. Toyota chair Akio Toyoda has apologised for a spate of scandals at some of the group’s closest affiliates as the world’s largest carmaker by sales tries to regain the trust of customers and regulators. Toyoda yesterday said he “wanted to be the person that takes full responsibility” following recent disclosures of widespread problems with testing data at three affiliates: Hino Motors, Daihatsu and Toyota Industries.

5. The amnesty deal that gave Spain’s prime minister another term in office has fractured as Catalan separatists voted against a bill that was supposed to lock in their support for Pedro Sánchez. Barney Jopson reports on a day of brinkmanship in Madrid.

The Big Read

The rapid growth of China’s new breed of green exports — electric vehicles, solar energy products and lithium batteries — has boosted the world’s second-largest economy as it struggles with a deep property slump, deflationary pressure and low investor confidence. But for China’s developed country trading partners in Europe and North America, the prospect of low price Chinese imports flooding their markets has prompted growing alarm.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Chinese television sensation: Set in Shanghai in the 1990s, Blossoms has sparked a wave of nostalgia for a particular place and time in Chinese history.

• Goodbye to cultural liberalism: The impact of China’s cultural rise will alter the worldview of at least some consumers who live in democracies, writes Stephen Bush.

• Era of the non-state actor: It isn’t China or Russia who will dominate the post-American world, writes Janan Ganesh.

Chart of the day

Indonesia is flooding the global nickel market with low-cost supplies, forcing rivals to shut unprofitable mines and sowing panic in Washington and Paris that the upheaval will give China more control over the strategic resource. 

Take a break from the news

With religious celebrations, arts festivals and a flight of opera productions, 2024 in Hong Kong is chock-full of must-dos. Here are our picks of the city’s most exciting cultural events this year.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith