LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Today is a big date for Hong Kong. In 1997, it was the last day of more than 150 years of British colonial rule over Hong Kong. After that, the U.K. ceded control to China. And five years ago today, Beijing outlawed most dissent in Hong Kong to crack down on big pro-democracy protests. Here's NPR's Emily Feng.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: In the five years since the national security law went into effect, Hong Kong authorities have tried to normalize it, teaching it in public schools and popularizing it with a rap song like this one performed on Hong Kong's public television broadcaster earlier this summer.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Rapping in Cantonese).
FENG: The national security law protects the light of our city, these children rap. But the people targeted by the law say it's anything but anodyne.
BAGGIO LEUNG: They make Hong Kong same as China.
FENG: That's Baggio Leung, an activist and former Hong Kong legislator. What he means is in 1997, when China took control over Hong Kong, the territory was to keep its expansive civil rights and system of law. But Leung says that buffer between mainland China and Hong Kong has fully disappeared.
LEUNG: They broke the separation of Hong Kong and China.
FENG: Finn Lau, another Hong Kong activist living in exile, points out, with principles of the law codified in Hong Kong's Constitution as of last year, it now has global reach.
FINN LAU: Basically, as long as you're on this planet, you will be affected by this draconian law.
FENG: Like Leung, Lau has been targeted under the law, even though he lives in London.
LAU: They have issued international arrest warrants against myself. And after that, I faced different kinds of transnational repression, like being followed.
FENG: Joey Siu is a former student leader in anti-government protests in 2019, and she also has a bounty on her head from Hong Kong's national security police.
JOEY SIU: They want to create this chilling effect so profound and so significant that even for us, people who are in the diaspora abroad, would not be able to exercise our, you know, fundamental rights to expression.
FENG: So far, more than 320 people have been arrested under the law in Hong Kong. And authorities are even applying it retroactively. Earlier this June, the imprisoned pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was hit with a new national security charge for activities he allegedly undertook more than four years ago. The new charge could extend his sentence to life in prison.
Emily Feng, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF GORILLAZ SONG, "HONG KONG") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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