Wednesday briefing
Hong Kong passed new security laws and bowed to Beijing
Hong Kong passed national security laws at Beijing’s insistence, thwarting decades of public resistance and introducing stiff penalties for vaguely defined political crimes. Critics said the move would deal a lasting blow to the partial autonomy the Chinese government had promised the city.
The first attempt to pass such legislation, in 2003, led to mass protests. But since 2020, when China imposed its own security law on Hong Kong, opposition figures have been jailed and public protests suppressed. This time the streets of Hong Kong were quiet.
Amelia spoke to Tiffany May, who covers Hong Kong for The Times.
How will these laws impact Hong Kong?
Tiffany: Whether it makes things better or worse depends on who you ask.
Hong Kong has been an Asian financial center for decades as it was seen as a gateway to business opportunities on the mainland, with an independent judiciary as its backbone. It also enjoyed freedoms unthinkable in the rest of the country.
But in recent years the city has been watching China’s crackdown more closely. The new national security law, known as Article 23 legislation, targets ambiguous crimes such as “external interference” and “theft of state secrets.”
Critics say this could cool any criticism of China and pose new risks to international business, eroding the very freedoms that had made the city an international business hub.
How is this law different from the national security law passed in 2020?
The new security laws expand the scope of crimes that would endanger national security. They also introduce important changes to due process. In some cases, police can now seek permission from magistrates to prevent suspects from consulting lawyers of their choice if this is considered a threat to national security.
Analysts said this could have a chilling effect on entrepreneurs, civil servants, lawyers, diplomats, journalists and academics. The penalties for political crimes such as treason and rebellion include life imprisonment.
Why was this pushed through the legislature?
China is at a point where it feels constantly under attack from the West.
The country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, sees national security legislation as necessary to protect China from what he sees as unfair trade practices, the infiltration of spies and other types of security threats. This year, Beijing emphasized that it would prioritize both economic growth and security, and in February it updated a state secrets law.
Analysts say Xi is taking a similar approach with Hong Kong. Chinese officials have urged Hong Kong’s leaders to pass the city’s own security laws as soon as possible. Hong Kong’s top leader John Lee said passing the laws quickly would allow the government to focus on rebuilding the economy.
How is the mood in Hong Kong? And among foreign investors?
Representatives of foreign business chambers said the advantage of doing business in Hong Kong rather than directly in mainland China is becoming less clear.
Overall, it has become more difficult to gauge public opinion in Hong Kong. The city’s top independent pollster, facing police raids, said it would stop publishing results on a number of politically sensitive topics.
Japan raised interest rates for the first time in seventeen years
Japan’s central bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2007, taking them above zero amid a surge in inflation and rising wages that signaled the country’s economy no longer needed such aggressive measures.
The increase is small; the bank’s policy rate grows from minus 0.1 percent to a range of zero to 0.1 percent. The new rate is still much lower than that in many Western countries. But the increase has a dramatic symbolic effect, said my colleague Joe Rennison, who covers financial markets for The Times.
“I think this is a signal that prices are not going to fall again anytime soon,” he said.
Background: In 2016, Japan introduced negative interest rates, an unorthodox move that means savers pay to save money at a bank and loans are very cheap, boosting spending and boosting growth. Japan was the last central bank to stop using negative interest rates.
Related: Employment for women in Japan has risen steadily, as part of an effort to support the aging and shrinking labor market.
The remarkably well-preserved site of a Bronze Age settlement in the freshwater marshes of eastern England offers an intimate glimpse into the ancient past.
It seems that a sudden fire destroyed the settlement and the villagers fled, leaving their belongings behind in peat and silt. The site is now the subject of two investigations, as detailed as crime scene reports, which reveal a level of sophistication and material comfort rarely associated with England in the period.
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The crazy perfumer of Parma
Hilde Soliani describes herself on her website as an artista dell’olfatto e del gusto, or “artist lady of smell and taste.”
She has created fantastic perfumes such as Lacrima (the scent of snow) and Vecchi Rossetti (the scent of a theater dressing room), but her most beloved products are ‘foodies’, or perfumes that smell like food, such as Buonissimo (brioche and cappuccino ). ) and Orgasmo (amaretto).
Perfume’s popularity exploded during Covid, and Soliani’s work has found an enthusiastic following.
That’s it for today’s briefing. Thank you for spending part of your morning with us, and see you tomorrow. – Than
PS The Times announced it Fellowship Class 2024-25a group of aspiring journalists starting in June.
You can reach Dan and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.