China’s new national security law saw arrests made in Hong Kong during its first few days of implementation and raises concerns for Christians in the former British colony.
The law covers four categories of crimes: succession, subversion of state power, local terrorist activities and collaborating with foreign or external foreign forces to endanger national security.
China considers protests that have been running since June 2019 as terrorist acts. As a result, protest leaders or Christian leaders who have actively spoken out against the Hong Kong Government might be seen as a threat. Cardinal Joseph Zen and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing could be extradited to mainland China to be tried, since Beijing considers them to be threats to the regime. Calls for Hong Kong’s independence from China is seen as an act of sedition. Christians in China do not enjoy the freedoms experienced by Hong Kong Christians and are viewed as threats to the regime [see en passim].
