(FiveNation.com)- After China transformed the way Hong Kong’s legislature works, taking power away from the people and increasing the number of votes from unelected Chinese Communist Party representatives, a horrible new law that allows the censorship of certain movies in the region has just been passed.
The BBC reports that the film censorship law was just officially approved in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, giving the chief secretary, who is the second-most powerful person in the Hong Kong administration, the power to revoke any movie’s license if they consider the movie to “endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security.”
That is, of course, an extremely vague criterion. Effectively, the Chinese Communist Party now has the power to block the sale, distribution, and viewing of movies in Hong Kong if they potentially pose a threat to “national security,” which could also be read as, “posing a threat to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Anybody found violating the new law will face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $130,000.
It comes after the Chinese Communist Party introduced new national security legislation in Hong Kong that made dissent against the Chinese regime illegal. A wave of pro-democracy protests in 2019 throughout Hong Kong prompted the CCP to crack down and force Hong Kong citizens to comply.
Global commentators and experts in the film industry have raised concerns that the new legislation, which doesn’t cover movies that are shared online, will have a substantial impact on the creativity and the freedom of expression of the people of Hong Kong.
But much more than creativity, the new law will allow the Chinese Communist Party to immediately stop any film content critical of their regime from being distributed legally.
How many people will honestly want to distribute anti-CCP films when they could face gigantic fines and years in prison?
