China’s new Hong Kong laws – “flagrant breach” of agreement
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Nearly 200 political figures from around the world on Saturday decried Beijing’s proposed national security laws for Hong Kong, including 17 members of the U.S. Congress, as international tensions grow over the proposal to set up Chinese government intelligence bases in the territory.
In a joint statement organized by former Hong Kong Governor Christopher Patten and former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, 186 law and policy leaders said the proposed laws are a “comprehensive assault on the city’s autonomy, rule of law and fundamental freedoms” and “flagrant breach” of the Sino-British Joint Declaration that returned Hong Kong to China in 1997.
“If the international community cannot trust Beijing to keep its word when it comes to Hong Kong, people will be reluctant to take its word on other matters,” they wrote.
The legislation comes as the relationship between Washington and Beijing frays, with U.S. President Donald Trump blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic.
South China Morning Post reports that “the proposed law will bypass the city’s legislature. It will require the Hong Kong government to set up new institutions to safeguard Chinese sovereignty and allow the mainland’s agencies to operate in the city when needed. The law has sparked a debate over the fate of the “one country, two systems” blueprint that has guided Hong Kong since its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
The signatories were led by Hong Kong’s last colonial governor Chris Patten, former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind, US senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Marco Rubio, 12 US congressmen, dozens of British MPs, as well as parliamentarians from Europe, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, India, Indonesia, South Korea as well as Malaysia.”
