Hong Kong condemns UK’s latest half-yearly report
RTHK · 3 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
The Hong Kong SAR government on Friday strongly condemned and firmly opposed the United Kingdom’s so-called Hong Kong six-monthly report, saying it contained false remarks and smears about the city’s situation. The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese foreign ministry in Hong Kong separately criticised the British government for using the report to attack “one country, two systems”, the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance
Key Points
- A Hong Kong government spokesman said Britain had distorted facts, reversed right and wrong, and tried to interfere with the SAR government’s lawful administration through political manipulation.
- The SAR government said the core meaning of the Sino-British Joint Declaration was China’s resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong, and that it gave Britain no right to interfere after the handover
- The foreign ministry’s Hong Kong office said Britain has no sovereignty, no governing power and no supervisory power over post-1997 Hong Kong, and no standing to comment under any “long-term commitment”
- The SAR government said that as of June this year, Britain had arrested nearly 4,000 people under national security and counterterrorism laws, a 15-fold increase from the same period last year
- Officials said Britain was applying double standards by enforcing strict national security laws at home while portraying Hong Kong’s security laws and the work of its law enforcement, prosecution and courts as rights violations
Why It Matters
The coordinated statements from the SAR government and the foreign ministry’s Hong Kong office show that both the local and central authorities are responding in tandem to overseas criticism of Hong Kong governance and national security laws. For Hong Kong readers, the immediate consequence is a further hardening of the official position that foreign governments should not comment on local judicial and security matters.