Analysis: With a new law for Hong Kong, Beijing makes clear sovereignty is its bottom line

SHANGHAI - The Chinese Communist Party and its leader, President Xi Jinping, emerged from their post-coronavirus political meetings this week with a clear message: Beijing's bottom line is sovereignty, at any cost.

China's rubber-stamp legislature Thursday approved a decision to impose a national security law on Hong Kong, bypassing the territory's own legislature in a move that sets the stage for both violence in Hong Kong's streets and further conflict with the United States.

Multiple countries, including the U.S., Britain, Australia, Canada, Switzerland and Japan, had sent Beijing a flurry of warnings after the proposed law was announced last week at China's most important annual political meetings. Not only