China appoints hardliner Zheng Yanxiong as Hong Kong security chief

China has appointed an official who became prominent during a 2011 clampdown on protesters in China as director of its new national security office in Hong Kong, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday. Zheng Yanxiong, 56, most recently served as the secretary general of the Communist Party committee of Guangdong province, an economic powerhouse bordering Hong Kong.

The new security agency was established under national security legislation that China imposed this week on Hong Kong that will punish crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, heralding a more authoritarian era for China's freest city. Zheng sparked controversy during an earlier posting as the party chief of the Guangdong city of Shanwei over his stance towards protesters in the village of Wukan.

Man charged with terrorism for slogan

A Hong Kong man who carried a sign saying "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times" as he drove a motorcycle into police during a protest this week has become the first person charged with inciting separatism and terrorism under a new security law. The law punishes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison but critics say it is aimed at stamping out dissent and ending a long-running campaign for greater democracy in the city.