China to establish national security bureau in Hong Kong

BEIJING (AP) — China plans to establish a special bureau in Hong Kong to investigate and prosecute crimes considered threatening to national security, as state media on Saturday reported details of a controversial new national security law Beijing is imposing on the semi-autonomous territory.

In addition to establishing the national security bureau, bodies in all Hong Kong government departments, from finance to immigration, will be directly answerable to the central government in Beijing, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The announcement is sure to increase concerns that China’s central government will continue to tighten its grip on Hong Kong. Beijing has said it is determined to press ahead with the national security legislation — which has been strongly criticized as undermining the Asian financial hub's legal and political institutions — despite heavy criticism from within Hong Kong and abroad.

The details of the proposed national security law emerged as the body that handles most lawmaking for China’s top legislative body closed its latest meeting. The bill was raised for discussion at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress but there was no further word on its fate, Xinhua said.

Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate on the Standing Committee, told Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK that the law was reviewed but no vote had been taken, and that it wasn’t clear when it would be further vetted. The Standing Committee meets every two months.

The bill was submitted Thursday for deliberation, covering four categories of crimes: succession, subversion of state power, local terrorist activities and collaborating with foreign or external foreign forces to endanger national security.

The bill has received heavy criticism, including from the U.S., which...