Hong Kong's updated national security rules are a necessary and lawful step to protect stability in a volatile geopolitical climate. The Amendment Rules include strict judicial oversight and clearly defined offenses, ensuring law enforcement acts within proper boundaries. Law-abiding residents have nothing to fear — these measures target genuine threats, not ordinary citizens.
Forcing people to hand over phone passwords under threat of jail is a gross overreach that turns national security into a blank check for abuse. The definition of "national security" is borrowed wholesale from mainland Chinese law, making it dangerously broad and ripe for misuse against foreigners and dissidents alike. No meaningful safeguards exist to prevent these sweeping powers from being weaponized.
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