Britain on Tuesday renewed its opposition to a national security law that China is aiming to impose on Hong Kong and declared that the legislation does not align with the 1997 Joint Declaration signed by the two countries that protects Hong Kong’s autonomy.
The treaty between London and Beijing bound China’s communist rulers to respect Hong Kong’s autonomy as a special administrative region and to leave its liberal economy and government for 50 years under the formulation “one country, two systems.”
China’s legislature last month approved the strict national security law on Hong Kong that would allow Chinese intelligence and security forces to be based inside the district for the first time, and seeks to address terrorism, secession and foreign interference in the city.
Pro-Beijing lawmakers have maintained that the law will not impact Hong Kong’s autonomy, but democracies around the world — including Britain and the U.S. — quickly condemned the move citing China’s push to crush democracy in the territory.
“The imposition of the proposed law lies in direct conflict with China’s international obligations under the Joint Declaration, a treaty agreed by the U.K. and China and registered with the United Nations,” British Ambassador to the United Nations Julian Braithwaite told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday.
He urged China to work with the city to “ensure it maintains Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and rights and freedoms.”
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