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Legal experts were uncertain how Mr. Xi could impose a national security law on Hong Kong without going through the city’s Legislative Council, a body stacked with pro-Beijing members who have, nonetheless, hesitated to take such a contentious step.

But he cleared up the confusion late last month, when China’s National People’s Congress nearly unanimously passed a resolution empowering the Congress’s Standing Committee to amend the Basic Law and impose anti-sedition regulations on the territory.

For safe measure, the congress ordered Hong Kong to introduce its own national security law, meaning the territory could be subject to two laws that potentially overlap or conflict.

Now, eyes are on the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which meets every two months or so, to see if it will pass the legislation on Saturday or release a draft. A spokesman for the committee said on Thursday that the proposed law would take aim at separatism, subversion, terrorism and “colluding with foreign powers.” Critics say those sweeping labels could be used to stifle political opposition in Hong Kong.

Draft legislation typically goes through two or three sessions of deliberation before going to a vote, and some experts do not believe the law will be passed on Saturday. Then again, Mr. Xi may want to finish things quickly.

Residents fear what the law will mean.