Back in 2003, the Hong Kong government's forceful attempt to pass a similar piece of legislation in the local legislature was met with uproar from civil society and was aborted. The undemocratic nature of the government proved to be its Achilles' heel.
2003年，香港政府意圖以本地立法的程序，強推與《國安法》性質相同的23條時，遭到廣泛社會強烈反對，因而宣佈撤回方案。在如此具爭議性的議案面前，暴露了香港政府欠缺民主的弱點。十多年後，香港政府及中央政府的正當性在2019年的反修例運動當中，再次面對挑戰。
More than 15 years later, the legitimacy of the local and central governments faced yet another major challenge amid the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement. But now, Beijing has taken advantage of the global covid-19 pandemic and initiated a series of assaults against Hong Kong's autonomy while the international community has its hands tied by the virus. It first attempted to institutionalize the “supervisory power” of China's Liaison Office in the city. The NPC is now further attacking “one country, two systems” by circumventing Hong Kong's Legislative Council: It legislates by way of inserting the national security law directly to the Annex III of the Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitution, which will later simply be promulgated by the Hong Kong government.
然而，正當國際社會忙於對抗疫情，北京卻藉此機會對香港的自治作出一連串的打壓。它先是將中聯辦對香港的「監督權」制度化，現在全國人大更是繞過香港立法會的立法程序，將港版《國安法》直接放在《基本法》附件三，稍後由香港政府公布實施。
