Hong Kong police target office workers in lunch-time crackdown

Hong Kong police fired pepper-spray balls at office workers and arrested at least 180 people for protesting against controversial new laws to be imposed by Beijing.

The lunch-time crackdown saw scores of police deployed to central Hong Kong ahead of a debate in the local Legislative Council over a law that would criminalise insults to China's national anthem and the expected passing of national security legislation in Beijing on Thursday.

Police cordoned off streets and subways, and stopped and searched Hong Kong residents to muzzle the protests. "Police are taking resolute action to enforce the law and using the minimum force necessary," the Hong Kong government said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

The draft national security laws would prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition or subversion in Hong Kong against the central government in Beijing, while also establishing new national security agencies for the first time in the former British colony.

China's President Xi Jinping warned members of the National People's Congress on Tuesday it was necessary for China to step up preparations for armed combat, "to improve our military’s ability to perform military missions" without referencing Hong Kong specifically.

China's top military commander in Hong Kong, Major-General Chen Daoxiang, told state media on Tuesday that up to 10,000 soldiers were determined to enforce the national security legislation.

On Wednesday, democracy leaders in Hong Kong chanted "Hong Kong independence, the only way out" and accused Beijing of unilaterally scrapping the "one country, two systems" approach. They warned the legislation would put foreigners, including 100,000 Australian expats, at risk of being targeted by China's opaque judicial system.

Reuters reported on Wednesday the new laws would also block foreign judges from hearing national security trials. Foreign judges have historically tied Hong Kong's judicial system to Western common law traditions.

Joshua Wong, the secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosistō, urged the United States, the European Union and other world leaders to impose sanctions on China "as the only effective strategic option to send a warning signal to Beijing".

"If China’s flagrant breach of Joint Declaration, a legally binding international treaty at the UN, is tolerated, it will set a bad precedent to all other treaties and agreements alike," he said.

European Union President Charles Michel said he was preparing a strategy to negotiate with China ahead of a summit between Beijing and all EU member states in June.

"We are not naive about Chinese behaviour at the international level," he said after a video meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We attach a great importance to the preservation of Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy in line with the basic law and international commitments. We are in permanent dialogue with the Chinese authorities to express our opinions."

China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it would take countermeasures to prevent foreign interference in the laws.

The remarks came ahead of an expected response this week from the White House over the new legislation.

“We’re doing something now," President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. "I think you’ll find it very interesting."

US lawmakers have floated removing Hong Kong's special economic status, potentially exposing its economy to tariffs levied by Washington on China.

Any shift in status could also hit Australian companies. Australian businesses have more than $75 billion invested in Hong Kong.