Due to Beijing’s deep concern about its national security being undermined in Hong Kong, where the anti-extradition protests from June to December 2019 not only challenged the legitimacy of both the central and Hong Kong governments but also constituted an attempt at initiating a “color revolution,” a national security law was enacted in late June 2020. The new law aims at demonstrating its immediate deterrent effects on protestors and dissidents by empowering the Hong Kong authorities to pursue suspected offenders. The results were the escape, arrest, and imprisonment of some local political activists. The year 2020 marked the immediate impacts of the national security law on Hong Kong’s political development, resulting in the territory’s truncated autonomy and exerting controls over the society, education, and the judiciary.

Despite the growing security threat posed by Chinese military modernization, Taiwan still has not completed the purchase of some of the key components of the arms sales package the United States approved in April 2001. The reasons include overconfidence in U.S. security assurances, underestimation of Chinese capabilities and resolve, and highly divisive domestic Taiwanese politics.