Trump says US will 'react strongly' if China imposes new Hong Kong security law

USPresident Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States would react strongly if China follows through on plans to impose new national security legislation onHongKongafter last year's often violent pro-democracy unrest.

The remarks, made by the President to reporters before leaving the White House, come hours after a Chinese official said the National People's Congress is exercising its "constitutional power” to set up a new legal framework and enforcement mechanism to ensure national security inHongKong.

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The move by China's rubber stamp parliament, theNational People's Congress (NPC), which is meeting in Beijing this week, is sure to fuel further anger and protests in the city, which was rocked by over six months of increasingly violent anti-government unrest last year.

The law, which is expected to ban sedition, secession and subversion of the central government in Beijing, will be introduced through a rarely used constitutional method that could effectively bypass Hong Kong's legislature.

US had previouslyissuedwarning to Beijing as the law, which could enable crackdowns on anti-government protests, is blastedas the 'end' of Hong Kong as itcould be the biggest blow to the city's autonomy and civil liberties since its handover to Chinese rule in 1997.