UK declares China has broken joint treaty over expulsion of Hong Kong MPs
The UK has declared that China has once again breached the Sino-British treaty over Beijing’s expulsion of pro-democracy Hong Kong MPs.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the move was a “clear breach of the legally binding Sino-British declaration” and that Beijing had “undermined Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy”.
The Chinese parliament adopted a resolution yesterday to allow the city’s executive to expel legislators deemed to support Hong Kong independence.
Hong Kong authorities then announced the disqualification of four assembly members who had previously been barred.
This sparked a mass walkout from all remaining pro-democracy Hong Kong lawmakers, leaving the country’s parliament without any dissenting voices against Beijing.
British foreign secretary said the move breached the international treaty signed by the UK and China when Hong Kong’s handover was agreed.
“Beijing’s imposition of new rules to disqualify elected legislators in Hong Kong constitutes a clear breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration,” Raab said.
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“China has once again broken its promises and undermined Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy.
“The UK will stand up for the people of Hong Kong, and call out violations of their rights and freedoms. With our international partners, we will hold China to the obligations it freely assumed under international law.”
The treaty stipulated that Hong Kong would operate autonomously of China’s government under the “two systems, one country” system.
This has slowly been eroded over the past decade, with legislation brought forward this year that left Hong Kong’s democracy in tatters.
Beijing introduced new security legislation to the region, which all but ended freedom of speech and made it illegal to criticise the Chinese government.
China has also set up security agencies in Hong Kong and has packed its parliament with pro-regime figures.
Claudia Mo, a founder of the pro-democracy Civic Party, said yesterday that Beijing had “practically put the nail into Hong Kong’s democracy struggle”.
“From now on anyone they found to be politically incorrect or unpatriotic or are simply not likable to look at, they could just oust you,” she said.
Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing chief executive, said yesterday: “We cannot allow members of the legislative council who have been judged unable to fulfil the requirements and prerequisites for serving on the legislative council to continue to operate.”
“This latest arbitrary decision from Beijing further significantly undermines Hong Kong’s autonomy,” the EU’s 27 governments said in a statement.
“These latest steps constitute a further severe blow to political pluralism and freedom of opinion in Hong Kong.”