China yesterday opened a new office for its intelligence agents to operate openly in Hong Kong for the first time under a tough new security law, transforming a hotel into the force's headquarters. The new base is a hotel overlooking the city's Victoria Park, a location that has hosted pro-democracy protests for years, including an annual vigil each June marking Beijing's deadly Tiananmen crackdown. A plaque bearing the security agency's name was unveiled early yesterday in front of Hong Kong government and police officials, an AFP reporter on the scene said. A Chinese flag was unfurled on a pole erected outside the building while a plaque bearing the emblem of the People's Republic of China went up overnight. Beijing imposed a new security law on Hong Kong last week targeting acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign collusion.  Similar national security laws are used to crush dissent on the mainland and police in Hong Kong have already made arrests for people voicing certain political views now deemed illegal, such as advocating independence or autonomy.