The Hong Kong government on Monday proposed legislation that would allow the city’s leader to designate certain criminal acts as national security offenses, stepping up its efforts to stamp out challenges to its rules in the city where critics say freedoms have been eroding.
After massive democracy protests rocked the Asian financial hub in 2019, Beijing imposed a national security law that has been used to arrest many leading activists. The city's government in 2024 enacted another security law, targeting other crimes such as espionage and disclosing state secrets.
