Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of (a) the Chinese Government's compliance with the Sino-British Declaration and (b) the effect of that declaration under international law.

​The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a legally binding treaty, registered with the UN, that remains in force. The UK, as a co-signatory, has an obligation to monitor its implementation closely, and we are committed to doing so. We respect China's sovereignty but we also believe it is important to speak out where we have concerns and to make sure that the Joint Declaration, recognised in international law, is upheld.

The government reports to Parliament at six monthly intervals on implementation of the Joint Declaration. The next Six Month Report will be published shortly. The government has not assessed to date that China has explicitly breached the Joint Declaration, with the exception of the involuntary removal of Mr Lee Po, a British citizen, to mainland China without any due process under Hong Kong Special Administrative Region law in 2015. That incident constituted a serious breach and undermined the principle of "One Country, Two Systems" which assures Hong Kong residents of the protection of the Hong Kong legal system.