It’s been five years since Beijing imposed a harsh new national security law on Hong Kong. During this time, the law has fundamentally altered the city-state, prompting scores of pro-democracy leaders to flee overseas and instilling a climate of fear and repression that has quashed any opposition to the communist government in Beijing.
The law came after months of mass protests in 2019 and 2020 over a bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited from Hong Kong to mainland China.
That bill was withdrawn, but Beijing did not scale back its ambitions. Instead, it introduced the national security law in June 2020, bypassing Hong Kong’s legislature. The law prohibits anything deemed by Beijing to constitute secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces.
