CHINA TO ROLL OUT ‘NATIONAL SECURITY’ STEPS FOR HONG KONG

A rally in Hong Kong this week. The Chinese government said it had a plan to “safeguard national security” in the territory.

By Keith Bradsher, BEIJING China

China will roll out new steps to “safeguard national security” in Hong Kong after months of anti government protests that have destabilized the semi autonomous city, the Chinese Communist Party leadership announced on Thursday.

The vague yet potentially far-reaching proposal for Hong Kong was announced at the end of a four-day meeting of the party’s Central Committee, which brings together about 370 senior officials to decide the direction of party policy around once a year.

The official summary of the meeting, released by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, contained few details of that and other proposals intended to defend the authority of the Communist Party and its leader, Xi Jinping, and to improve decision making. Details may come out in documents and speeches released days or weeks later.

The most eye-catching language was about Hong Kong, where for some 21 weeks protesters have challenged the Beijing-backed government, demanded democracy and denounced China’s growing hold over the city, a former British colony that maintains its own laws and freedoms.

Hong Kong and Macau, a former Portuguese colony, are both run as “special administrative regions” under Chinese sovereignty. China would “build and improve a legal system and enforcement mechanism to defend national security in the special administrative regions,” the meeting summary said.

The vague language leaves plenty of guesswork about what the Chinese leaders may have in mind. Some pro-Beijing hard-liners in Hong Kong have suggested the time may have come for the Chinese authorities to impose new security legislation on the territory, which Britain returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

Article 18 of the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that defines Hong Kong’s status, gives Beijing broad authority, which it has never exercised, to act on a perceived threat in Hong Kong to national threat or unity.

The Basic Law also requires that Hong Kong pass its own national security laws, but it has not done so, especially after protests in 2003 prompted the territory’s government to abandon proposed legislation.

The Communist Party leadership met as China is grappling with a trade war with the Trump administration and a marked slowdown in China’s economic growth.

The official summary did not mention those issues — top-level party documents often stick to broad statements — but one clause suggested that Mr. Xi and his colleagues feel that the risks have risen. The summary said the leadership had withstood “a complex situation of clearly increasing domestic and external risks and challenges.”

Over the past year, Mr. Xi has repeatedly warned Communist Party officials to steel themselves for “struggle” and hazards such as possible economic turbulence, rising debt levels linked to local governments, technological competition and sparks of social discontent spread across the internet.

The wording from the latest leadership meeting suggests that Mr. Xi sees no easing in those risks.

The Central Committee echoed Mr. Xi’s frequent demands that the “Communist Party leads everything,” and that the authority of central leaders, like himself, be fiercely protected. And it hinted that there may be more changes to bolster Mr. Xi and the party, while also trying to improve coordination in policy making.

Since coming to power in 2012, Mr. Xi has created party policy groups and investigation bodies that enhance the power of central leadership, above all himself.

Last year, he swept away a term limit on his presidency, opening the way to an indefinite stay in power. But investors, experts and officials have complained that the flurry of change has created caution and confusion among policymakers, and held back promised reforms.

The latest meeting promised both stronger centralized leadership and better policy decisions.

“Improve the leadership system for managing the overall situation and coordinating all sides,” the summary said. “Improve every institution for firmly defending the authority of the party central leadership and centralized, unified leadership.”

Such sweeping language could, for example, open the way to changes in how party’s policy-setting commissions operate.

Some details may become clearer if the party issues the decision on improving the “national governance system” that the committee approved. Precedent suggests that the decision may be published in the coming days or weeks.