Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 24 June (HL16327), following the withdrawal of the Hong Kong extradition bill and in view of the protests in Hong Kong, what steps they are taking to ensure that the Sino-British Joint Declaration, ratified by the governments of China and the United Kingdom in 1984 and registered with the United Nations in 1985, is adhered to.

The Government has set out its position on the situation in Hong Kong in public and in private. We are in regular contact with the Government of China and the Hong Kong SAR Government. In recent weeks, the Foreign Secretary has spoken to the Hong Kong Chief Executive, Carrie Lam, and the Chinese Foreign Minister, State Councillor Wang Yi. The Foreign Secretary reiterated the UK’s commitment to Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and rights and freedoms under the “One Country, Two Systems” framework, which is guaranteed by the legally binding Joint Declaration of 1984 and enshrined in the Hong Kong Basic Law.

The Foreign Secretary has also spoken to a wide range of counterparts on this issue and welcomes the strong statements from our international partners.

The Prime Minister raised Hong Kong at the recent G7 meeting, where all G7 partners reaffirmed the importance of the Joint Declaration and called for an end to the violence.

We will continue to engage the Hong Kong SAR government, the Chinese government and international partners, reiterating the fundamental importance of upholding the Sino-British Joint Declaration.