Hong Kong Sanctions Bill: China warns US of counteraction

China has promised to take "all necessary countermeasures" if the United States pressed ahead with legislation penalising banks doing business with Chinese officials who implement Beijing's draconian new national security law on Hong Kong.

The warning came yesterday after the US Senate unanimously approved the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, sending it to the White House for President Donald Trump's signature.

"This US move has grossly interfered in China's internal affairs and seriously violated international law, as well as the basic norms governing international relations," the Foreign Affairs Committee of China's National People's Congress said.

"If the US side is bent on going down the wrong path, China will resolutely respond with all necessary countermeasures."

Beijing has faced a groundswell of criticism over its decision to impose a law outlawing "acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces" in Hong Kong.

Pro-democracy protesters in the city as well as foreign governments say the law breaches the "one country, two systems" principle enshrined in the 1984 Sino-British treaty that guaranteed the autonomy of Hong Kong.

China yesterday appointed a hardliner to head a new national security agency in Hong Kong as police brought the first charges under the sweeping new anti-subversion law.

Zheng Yanxiong -- a party official best known for tackling protests on the mainland -- will lead the office set up by the legislation that empowers mainland security agents to operate in Hong Kong openly for the first time, unbound by the city's laws.

The appointment came as a man accused of deliberately driving his motorbike into a group of police officers became the first person in Hong Kong to be charged under the new national security law.

China's authoritarian leaders say the suite of powers will restore stability after a year of protests and will not stifle freedoms.

But police have already begun arresting people for possessing flags and banners while the local government has made clear certain political views, especially calls for independence, are now outlawed.

On Thursday evening Nathan Law, one of the city's most prominent young activists, announced he had fled overseas to an undisclosed location, fearing arrest days after the pro-democracy party he helped found said it was disbanding.

'A TOUGH ENFORCER'

The new national security agency is just one new element of Beijing's landmark law targeting subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.

The office has investigation and prosecution powers and will monitor intelligence related to national security and process cases, in some circumstances handing them over to the mainland for trial.

Zheng rose through the ranks of the local government in southern Guangdong province which borders Hong Kong, to serve as secretary general of the provincial Communist Party committee.

The 56-year-old is known as a hardliner who stamped out often-violent anti-corruption protests that erupted in Wukan, a village in the province, in 2011 after a local activist died in police custody.

"He is a tough enforcer, a law and order person," Willy Lam, an expert on China's Communist Party at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP.

Hong Kong was rocked by several months of huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests last year, a movement which Beijing has vowed to end with its new security law.

China has dismissed protesters' demands for greater democracy and portrayed the unrest as a foreign plot to destabilise the motherland.

It has sought to ramp up oversight on Hong Kong's government.

The State Council yesterday also named Luo Huining -- the current director of Beijing's Liaison Office in the city -- as the national security adviser to the newly-formed national security commission, chaired by Chief Executive Carrie Lam.

A loyalist of president Xi Jinping, Luo built a reputation for enforcing Communist Party discipline and tackling corruption.

Hong Kong's mini-constitution forbids mainland officials from interfering in the running of Hong Kong's day-to-day affairs.

But Beijing has argued national security is purely the purview of central authorities.

COURT CHARGES

The most serious offences carry up to life in jail. Tong Ying-kit, 23, was charged with the first national security crimes -- terrorism and inciting secession yesterday afternoon.

A police source told AFP Tong drove his motorbike into a group of police officers on Wednesday during protests against the security law, wounding three.

Video footage captured by local television showed a man on an orange motorbike with a flag reading "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times" -- a popular pro-democracy slogan -- moments before it hit a group of riot police.

Hong Kong's government have announced that using the phrase "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our times" is illegal under the secession and subversion provisions.