China: Human Rights

(asked on 14th September 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the accuracy of reports of the Hong Kong Police arresting senior members of the groups that organised vigils in memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre.


Answered by
Amanda Milling Portrait
Amanda Milling
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This question was answered on 22nd September 2021

On 8 and 9 September, Hong Kong's national security police arrested seven general committee members of the Hong Kong Alliance. On 9 September, police searched the Alliance's headquarters, and the June 4th Museum, seizing documents, computers and promotional materials. This action against the Hong Kong Alliance is a further demonstration that the National Security Law is not being used for its original purpose, as stated by Beijing, to target just "a tiny number of criminals who seriously endanger national security". Rather it is being used to deter freedom of expression and now to dismantle civil society in Hong Kong.

The UK will not look the other way on Hong Kong, and we will not duck our historic responsibilities to its people. As a co-signatory to the Joint Declaration, we will continue to stand up for the people of Hong Kong, to call out the violation of their freedoms, and to hold China to their international obligations.

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