Hong Kong unveils law banning insults to Chinese national anthem

Hong Kong unveiled a proposed law Wednesday to punish anyone who disrespects the Chinese national anthem with up to three years in jail, as Beijing ramps up pressure on the semi-autonomous city to fall into line.

The bill, which will have its first reading in the city's parliament on January 23, sets up a fresh battle between authorities and democracy activists who say the financial hub's freedoms are being steadily dismantled.

Hong Kong has mulled the law ever since China fine-tuned legislation on the proper way and place to sing the anthem, tightening rules that already bar people from performing it at parties, weddings and funerals.

A draft bill made public on Wednesday showed that the city planned to copy the mainland by bringing in a maximum three year prison sentence for "serious" cases of disrespect towards the national anthem.

The draft outlaws playing the anthem "in a distorted or disrespectful way, with intent to insult."