With Beijing’s sweeping security law set to pass this week, many protesters accept that ‘one country, two systems’ is over

To Jennifer Tsui, the looming national security law agreed last month by China’s legislature seems like the “real” return of Hong Kong to China.

When Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese sovereignty on 1 July 1997, Tsui, then a student, was apprehensive, but her worries were allayed when things appeared almost unchanged after the handover. Hongkongers were assured their lifestyle would remain unchanged until at least 2047 under the “one country two systems” policy guaranteed in the Sino-British joint declaration.

Hong Kong delegate to top Chinese legislative body says people who breach new law could be sent to mainland if Beijing ‘thinks it necessary’

China’s proposal to take charge of “serious” breaches of the new national security law in Hong Kong will sabotage the city’s autonomy, its rule of law and freedoms and threaten its unique status as an Asian financial hub, analysts say.

China’s parliament passed a plan in late May to impose a national security law on Hong Kong to target “acts and activities” that it sees as threatening national security, including secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign interference.