HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) – Hong Kong representatives to China’s top law-making bodies plan to discuss Beijing’s policy toward the Asian financial hub on Thursday (May 21), potentially including controversial national security legislation that could prompt fresh protests.

The newly appointed director of China’s Cabinet-level Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Xia Baolong, is set to outline Beijing’s latest directives to numerous city officials who are members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which holds its annual gathering this week, according to news organisation HKO1.

Pro-Beijing figures including Chan Man-ki and Ng Chau-pei, both Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress, will propose passing new national security laws through a legal mechanism that bypasses the city’s Legislative Council, they said on Facebook. The laws – including banning treason, sedition and secession – are vigorously opposed by pro-democracy politicians and have sparked mass protests in the past.

“It’s worrying, but I’m not surprised,” said Claudia Mo, an opposition lawmaker. “It really depends on how impatient Beijing has become with Hong Kong. The powers that be up north know perfectly well that such a move might just be considered savage, and there might be some heavy price to pay internationally.”

The national security laws are required to eventually be passed by Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution. But successive governments have failed to pass them, with the latest effort in 2003 resulting in widespread street demonstrations.

An attempt to pass security laws now could reignite street protests that hammered the city’s economy last year and serve as a flash point amid broader US-China tensions. The unrest dwindled only when the global pandemic put a stop to mass gatherings.

The proposal from the Hong Kong NPC delegates suggests passing the same security laws by using Article 18, which permits the national legislature to pass laws relating to defence or foreign affairs if, among other things, it believes there is “turmoil within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region which endangers national unity or security and is beyond the control of the government” or a state of emergency.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, whose extradition Bill last year ignited unprecedented unrest in the city, said this week that she viewed the national security laws as an “important constitutional requirement for the government,” that was needed in light of the “violence and near terrorist acts” of the recent protests.

Scuffles broke out in Legislative Council this month as pro-democracy lawmakers sought to block Beijing-backed Bills, including one criminalising disrespect for the national anthem. Some protesters have called for demonstrators to surround the legislature to block the second reading of the Bill on May 27, almost 11 months after some demonstrators broke into and ransacked the chamber.

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