Hong Kong: China

(asked on 16th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to remove any special legal status differentiating Hong Kong from China following the resignation of Hong Kong’s opposition lawmakers.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 23rd November 2020

The imposition of new rules to disqualify elected legislators in Hong Kong constitutes a clear breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration. We have raised our concerns directly with the Beijing authorities, including by summoning the Chinese Ambassador on 13 November.

On 20 July we extended the arms embargo on China to include Hong Kong and suspended our extradition treaty with Hong Kong indefinitely. This was a necessary and proportionate response to the imposition of the National Security Law. As a co-signatory to the Joint Declaration, we have a responsibility to uphold the contents, and a duty to speak out when we have concerns. We will continue to respect Hong Kong's separate customs territory as set out in Paragraph 3 of the Joint Declaration, which declares that the 'Hong Kong Special Administrative Region will retain the status of a free port and a separate customs territory'.

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