The Chinese Communist Party announced Thursday that the country’s legislature will propose sweeping new national security laws for Hong Kong that sidestep the city’s own lawmaking body, crack down on opposition to Beijing, and deal a sharp blow to the territory’s autonomy.

1/ On the eve of HK’s Tiananmen massacre vigil, Beijing is now scrapping its promise of #1country2systems by circumventing HK’s legislature and directly imposing the most controversial national security law #article23 upon Hong Kong.

— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 ???? (@joshuawongcf) May 21, 2020

In a news briefing late Thursday, spokesman for the National People’s Congress Zhang Yesui said that it will be deliberating on a bill “establishing and enhancing the legal framework and enforcement mechanisms for safeguarding national security” in Hong Kong. (RELATED: Fight Breaks Out In Hong Kong Parliament As Pro-Beijing Party Gains Control Of Key Position)

China had pledged to keep Hong Kong’s capitalist system and way of life unchanged for 50 years under the “one country, two systems” principle agreed upon with the U.K. in 1997, which handed the city back to Beijing after more than a century of colonial rule.

The agreement also created a mini constitution for Hong Kong, known as the Basic Law, which required the city to enact its own national security legislation. An attempt by China to bypass the city’s lawmakers and implement national security laws was last attempted in 2003.