Hong Kong's New National Security Bill Includes More Power to Suppress Dissent

FILE - Tens of thousands of people march through a Hong Kong street July 1, 2003, to protest the Hong Kong government's plans to enact an anti-subversion bill that critics feared would curtail civil liberties. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, center, waves to delegates after the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 5, 2024.

Hong Kong unveiled a new national security bill Friday that proposes up to life imprisonment for offenses like treason and insurrection, a move deepening worries over further erosion of the city's freedoms after Beijing imposed a similar law four years ago that all but wiped out dissent.