The Chief Executive Carrie Lam and a group of legal and security officials have just come back from meetings in Beijing to discuss the proposed national security legislation with vice-premier Han Zhen and other officials. Lam said the central authorities intend to “firmly, comprehensively and faithfully” implement “One Country, Two Systems” and “resolutely” safeguard national security. She said that the central government will be listening to opinions from Hong Kong people. That same day, the United Kingdom’s prime minister Boris Johnson pledged that if China proceeds with the national security law, Britain will change immigration rules for some three million British National Overseas passport holders in Hong Kong granting a pathway to citizenship. With us to talk about the proposed law is Elsie Leung, former Deputy Director of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China.

It’s thirty-one years since the June 4th crackdown in Tiananmen Square but at least in Hong Kong, memories remain sharp. The annual vigil in Victoria Park to commemorate the deaths in 1989 is often seen as a barometer of Hong Kong’s freedoms. The future of that vigil is now in question. This year social distancing regulations were given as a reason for the banning the event – but the pending national security legislation may well lead to a longer term ban.