Hong Kong will intensify the screening of catering establishments for potential national security violations, which civil servants must prioritise when approving licences, the city’s leader said on Tuesday.
Critics see the move as targeting the territory’s many businesses, including cafes and restaurants, that have displayed posters, symbols or images expressing solidarity with its embattled pro-democracy movement.
‘Yellow Economic Circle’
Such businesses, widely called the “yellow economic circle”, have faced growing pressure from authorities, such as tax inspectors, at a time when they are reeling from a broader economic and retail downturn.
“Food and environmental hygiene officers … should place national security as the most important consideration and make appropriate assessments,” John Lee told reporters.
‘Appropriate And Necessary’ Move
He called the move “appropriate and necessary”, saying all civil servants were expected to rate security as the highest priority under the national security law.
The city’s food and hygiene department would follow the law in considering new licences and renewing existing ones, he added.
In recent years, authorities in the Asian financial hub have made use of sweeping national security laws imposed after mass anti-government protests in 2019 to systematically crack down on many of its liberal pockets.
National Security Terms Imposed
In May, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department sent letters to thousands of food and entertainment premises, obliging them to accept new terms related to national security.
In one document seen by Reuters, the Hong Kong government told business owners to ensure no activity in which they were engaged or involved in “may constitute or cause the occurrence of an offence endangering national security”.
The former British colony’s crackdown on dissent, from arresting democratic activists to shuttering liberal media and civil society groups, has drawn criticism from countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.
(With inputs from Reuters)
